The Next Creation
by Cyllya
Summary: The DigiDestined return to the DigiWorld and are split up. It's a long time before they can go back to the Real World, but they don't go willingly. With the older heroes in the Real World, the newest generation of DigiDestined has no one to turn to but th
1. Author's Notes and Prologue

Digimon: Digital Monsters 

The Next Creation 

by Seruyamon   
(Cyllya)

Author's Notes: 

-Check out a version of this with pictures(most of them seem to be in part two) at angelfire.com/anime2/nextcreation.  
-I used some characters from my other Digimon fanfic, although this is _not_ a sequel. I made it sound as if they'd been there through all or most of the first season. Levia has the Crest of Persistence. She used to be a major nerd and even a little suicidal, but now she's persistent and bold (she got contacts 'cause her glasses kept breaking). Her Digimon is Pasthamon (Poss-the-mon). Vanessa has the Crest of Integrity. She used to be rude and a thief. She's now pretty friendly, but thinks highly of herself, without really being arrogant. Her Digimon is Picamon.   
-This story is based after the episode where the DigiDestined defeat Apocalymon, but it's a ways in the future. In the beginning of the story, Kari and TK are ten. Izzy, Levia, and Mimi are twelve. Joe is fourteen. The others are thirteen.   
-WARNING: Parts of this fan fiction are (insert adjective you find most appropriate here: romantic, mushy, sentimental, mawkish, maudlin, tear-jerking, soppy, or nauseating.)   
-PG-10- things can get kinda gory….   
-'Hikeru' isn't really a Japanese name, but it sounds good. It could mean, like, sunny-something. ^_^;   
-'Tenshi' is Japanese for 'Angel.'   
-'Koibito' is Japanese for 'Sweetheart.'   
-I will say this in advance so I don't have to interrupt the story later. This is a note for the wedding scene in Part 2: Kids, don't try this at home…in fact, no matter how old you are, don't try this anywhere. If the feather you're using is guaranteed to be that of an angel, it's up to you.   
-I think 'Kasandora' is the Japanese version of 'Cassandra'   
-I **don't** know how to read tarot cards.   
-Pteryxmon is pronounced Tair-ex-mon, and Archaeomon is Ar-kee-o-mon.   
-If you happen to care, Pteryxmon and Archaeomon were named after(and, in Pteryxmon's case, modeled after physically) the bird-like dinosaur called Archaeopteryx (Latin for "Ancient Wing"). It was proven to have feathers, acording to the book I read.   
–Every time I add another part to FFN, check these notes again because I might add stuff. 

Disclaimer(Oh, horror): I don't own Digimon, somebody else does. I _do_ own the plot, Levia, Pasthamon(all levels), Vanessa, Picamon(all levels), Keri, Catamon(all levels), Kassie, Verdemon(all levels), Chimari, Mossimon(all levels), Hiroshi, Archaeomon(all levels), Kenji, Pardumon(all levels), Flaxemon, M'nai, the Kittimon and their Village, Automon, Canimon, Automon's Inn, Monzaemon's toy repair business, Rumon, Subjimon, Aikimon, Cifermon, Metacurmon, Pyromon, Rogumon, Spritemon, Limimon, Poseimon, Oramon, Tykemon, and Roemon.   
  


Prologue 

The Digivices formed a cube around Apocalymon as he prepared for his Total Annihilation attack. The cube contained the blast. Apocalymon was destroyed, as he had planned, but everything else stayed unharmed. 

This time the DigiDestined were lucky; Apocalymon wasn't just defeated, he was dead. He was gone for good, and nothing would bring him back. Tiny molecules of his former form scattered about the Digi-universe. 

Over a lot of time, some of the molecules flew into the Wall of Fire and beyond to the realm of darkness that Apocalymon had called home. The tiny atoms formed a single cell, something that could almost be called an Amoebaemon. 

The little single-celled life form twisted in agony as it sensed the events within the foreign world of light. 


	2. Back to the DigiWorld

Digimon: Digital Monsters

The Next Creation

#01: Back to the DigiWorld

by Seruyamon  
(Cyllya)

"Kari likes T.K! Kari likes T.K!"

"Shut up, Tai!" Kari ordered. She angrily chased her brother around the couch, but he always managed to stay on the other side while he laughed at her. She demanded, "Why are you making fun of me?! You and Sora are dating!"

All the while laughing, Tai said, "Because you're so easy to make fun of! You can't fight back!"

"Oh, yeah?!" Kari cried. She vaulted over the back of the couch, caught him off guard, tackled him into the wall by the TV, and stomped on his foot.

He hopped on one foot and groaned, "That's not what I meant by fighting back!"

"Hmph!" Kari turned up her nose and stomped angrily into the bedroom. 

She laid in bed and tried to think of something to do. It was summer vacation again, mid-June to be precise, and things seemed pretty boring. Their mom had absolutely refused to let them go to summer camp again. 

"What a shame," Kari said as she thought about it, "I doubt we'd get pulled to the DigiWorld again, but if we did, it wouldn't be so bad. I'd love to see Gatomon again…." 

At the thought of Gatomon, her eyes began to sting. Despite her greatest efforts to hold them in, tears started streaming down the sides of her eyes and onto the pillow.

"Oh, Gatomon," she mumbled, "It's been almost three years since I last saw her."

She wiped her eyes until they and her face were dried and fairly normal-colored. She climbed out of her bed and went into the kitchen for a drink. It was still early, so it wasn't a surprise to see Tai and their mom eating cereal at the table.

Kari stared aimlessly at the kitchen's clock as she poured a glass of coke. She suddenly felt dizzy. She gaped at the clock as the hands swung around crazily, and her cup overflowed. Her heart started beating so fast that it hurt, and she shrieked and accidentally flung the soda bottle across the room.

She shook her head as her heartbeat slowed; she looked at the clock. It was perfectly normal. Everything was perfectly normal, except Tai had a shocked and fearful look as he gripped the edged of the table so hard it looked like it would break. Their mom looked rather panicked, and there was Coca Cola flooding the room.

"What the heck was that?!" Tai demanded to anyone who knew.

"Should I call 9-1-1?" their mom asked nervously.

"…No," Kari said tiredly, "I think I'll go lie down for awhile." 

She headed toward the bedroom, and Tai followed after saying, "Don't leave me here!"

"What about your cereal?" his mom asked.

"Give it to the cat," Tai called. As Kari climbed into her bed, he plopped down on the bottom bunk and buried his face in the pillow.

He heard the phone ring, followed by his mom answering it. She came into the room with a mop and a cordless phone.

"It's your friend, Tai," she said, handing Tai the phone. She left after he took it without looking up.

"Hello?" he asked wearily.

"Hi, Tai."

"Sora?" he asked. He rolled over, sat up, and tried to sound more energetic, "What's up?"

"Um…Have you noticed anything… weird happening?"

Surprised, Tai said, "Yeah, I had this really weird feeling. Kari did too."

"Well at least I know I won't have to wear a straightjacket anytime soon," Sora said joking, "But what does it mean? And what's with the clock?"

"I don't know," Tai said, "I wasn't even looking at the clock."

"Okay," Sora said, "I'll call the others. Bye."

"Bye," Tai said. He turned the phone off and started to go put it back with the rest of the phone. Yet he felt so tired…. He sat the phone on the floor by the bed and laid back down.

***

__

Why?! Why are they so happy?! I'll show them… and **I'll** do it right! After all, their experience lacks now….

Kari awoke, sat up, and yawned. Her eyes widened as she looked around. She was overwhelmed by both fear and excitement. She didn't recognize the specific area, but the trees, bushes, and other such vegetation of the surrounding forest were all familiar.

This was the DigiWorld.

Kari drooped sadly. She murmured, "This is probably just another dream…. I'm sick of all these DigiWorld dreams. They just go and get my hopes all up…."

She deliberately widened her eyes. After a few seconds, she did it again. She frowned and thought, _I'm always able to wake myself up when I recognize a dream._ She pinched herself to no avail, then checked her belt. Her Digivice was clipped there like it was a fashion statement.

She started to get worried and turned around. She saw the edge of a cliff about twenty feet away. Between her and the cliff were the other nine DigiDestined.

Tai was sprawled out face down. Matt, Vanessa, Sora, and Joe were a ways away and laying on their sides. Izzy was sitting up with his head and arms resting on his knees. Levia and Mimi were each propped up against a tree trunk. TK was curled up on the ground to Kari's right. They were all sleeping.

Kari went over to Tai and shook him awake. He raised his head and rubbed his eyes. He tiredly asked, "What is it now, Kari?"

"Am I awake?" Kari asked.

"What?" Tai demanded, "Well, yeah, duh."

"But, but, but…" Kari stammered. She spread her arms to point out the surrounding area.

Tai looked around and seemed ready to have a heart attack. He jumped up and took a better look around. He called, "Hey, everyone! Wake up! Hurry, c'mon!"

"Huh?" Matt mumbled as he sat up. Everyone awoke and had the same shocked reaction. Mimi stood up, pinched herself on the arm, and fainted. Joe slid closer and caught her before she hit the ground.

Kari spotted a flash of light behind her and turned. She saw the bags or backpacks that they had always had with them in the DigiWorld. Izzy went over and picked his backpack up and smiled seeing his laptop strapped to the back.

"Are we in the DigiWorld again?" Sora asked.

"It's a safe bet," Matt said.

"Are our Digimon around?" Joe asked as he managed to wake Mimi up.

"Gatomon?" Kari called loudly. The others all called the names of their Digimon, but there were no responses. Everyone looked sad, but their expressions turned hopeful as the bushes behind the rustled. Their hopefulness fell as an unfamiliar Digimon jumped out.

"Is that the Easter Bunny?" Mimi asked. The Digimon was about three feet high and did have a cartoon-rabbit-like appearance. It stood on its hind legs. Its fur was red, but pink in the front of its body. The fur on its ears, spine, cheeks, tail, and the top of its head was spiky. The Digimon had a large friendly-looking smile and looked like a child.

It blinked its big mahogany eyes, took one hop closer, and asked, "Hi, there! Are you all Digimon?"

"Uh, no," Tai said, "We're humans."

"Really?" the bunny asked, "Are you the guys that destroyed the Dark Masters and Apocalymon?"

"Yep," Matt said, "That's us."

"Wow!" the bunny cried, "I'm so glad I could meet you! It's such an honor! But why did you come back to the DigiWorld?"

"Uh, we don't know that yet," Sora said.

Levia knelt down next to Izzy, who was already typing away at his computer. She quietly asked, "Who is this guy?"

"He's… Cifermon," Izzy said, "Believe it or not, he's an Ultimate. He has a fire attack and he's really agile. He's also a Virus Digimon."

"Virus?" Levia asked. She brushed her short blonde hair out of her green eyes to get a better look at Cifermon. She asked Izzy, "Are you sure your Digimon Analyzer is correct? It hasn't been used in three years."

"It's always accurate," Izzy said, "It's non-perishable."

Cifermon's big rabbit ears twitched. He turned to Izzy and Levia and said, "Just 'cause I'm a Virus doesn't mean I'm bad."

"I guess he's right," Joe admitted, seeing everyone's uneasy look.

"Remember Ogremon?" Mimi asked.

"Yeah, I guess," Tai said.

"It's nice to meet you, Cifermon," Vanessa said.

"It's been about…three years since you've been in the DigiWorld, right?" Cifermon asked.

"Yeah," TK said, "Has a lot o' stuff changed?"

"You bet," Cifermon said, "Can I give you guys a tip?"

"Sure," Kari said.

"Seeing that this _is_ the _Digital_ World," Cifermon said, "You should always trust technological sophistication over your own logic."

"Huh?" everyone asked.

Cifermon released the powerful muscles in his legs and shot upward, "Inferno Cannon!" He fired a huge fireball at the ground. A big crack formed from ledge to ledge and broke the edge of the cliff off, DigiDestined and all.

"Hey, you little—!!" Vanessa shrieked while everyone screamed. Her long dark brown ponytail partially hid the fact that her brown eyes blazed with hatred.

Cifermon giggled childishly and landed on the remains of the ledge. He waved and yelled, "Don't you know children shouldn't use such words?!" after Vanessa finished her rather provocative exclamations.

***

__

Good job, Cifermon. They didn't suspect a thing, just like I planned. Never have their enemies been so darn cute….

Agumon, the yellow tiger-like Picamon, and the blue mini-Loch-Ness-Monster-like Pasthamon walked along through a hilly prairie talking amongst themselves. Tentomon flew just above them and occasionally added to the conversation.

"Okay? So then he's like, 'Well, can't you light it with your Sparkle Beam?'" Picamon said, "So I said, 'You want _me_ to light that lamp with my little sparkly lights?! You've got to be kidding.' But he's, like, totally determined."

"Do I want to know what he did then?" Agumon laughed.

"He says, 'Then use your Thunder Whack,'" Picamon continued, "and I get, like, all upset. Only Zapermon can use Thunder Whack, and I can't Digivolve… without… V-v…." Her voice choked, and her bright green eyes got watery.

"Oh," Pasthamon mumbled. The fin on the back of her head lowered to express her sadness. Everyone stopped walking and drooped.

"When are we gonna get over the fact that they're not around?!" Agumon demanded shamefully.

"Never!" Pasthamon said, "If you can think about Tai and not be sad—or even forget about him all together—then I feel sorry for you!"

"I must say that I think she's right," Tentomon said.

"Mmm-hmm," Picamon nodded.

"You're right," Agumon said, "I _do_ miss Tai… but we should have stopped crying at least…."

"Anyway!" Picamon cried cheerfully, attempting to change the subject, "Who's up for a swim?! There's a little lake just over this hill!"

"Swim! Yay!" Pasthamon exclaimed and pretended not to recognize the spur-of-the-moment subject change.

"I'll race ya there!" Agumon challenged.

"You're on!" Picamon accepted.

"Go!" cried Tentomon.

The three of them sped up the hill, leaving Pasthamon to lope clumsily along like a sea lion while yelling, "Hey! Wait for me! I don't have legs!"

Picamon rolled down the hill and into the water. Agumon and Tentomon stopped and gaped. Pasthamon got to the top of the hill and did the same.

"Hey, what's—" Picamon cut herself off after she rose from the water and her nose bumped into that of another Digimon. She stuttered, "G-Gabumon." She and Gabumon blushed, and she sank back into the water.

"Hey, Gabumon!" Agumon exclaimed. He went and half-hugged Gabumon and asked, "Long time, no see! How ya been doin'?"

Gabumon smiled, shrugged, and asked, "You?"

"We've been fine," Agumon said.

"_And_ dandy," Tentomon added.

"D'ya miss me?" Picamon questioned cheerfully as she came halfway out of the water and grinned.

Gabumon seemed unsettled by her question. He smiled again and patted her shoulder.

"Where have you been staying?" Agumon asked.

"Around," Gabumon said.

"Hi, Gabumon," Pasthamon said dizzily after she rolled down the hill less skillfully than Picamon.

Gabumon wordlessly raised a paw to give a small wave.

"Well, haven't you become a Digimon of few words?" Tentomon asked.

Gabumon shrugged. Picamon sat on the bank and said, "No kidding. Bud, you haven't said two words since we got here."

"You, around," Gabumon reminded.

"Fine. Get technical," Picamon rolled her eyes.

"Who wants a swimming race?" Pasthamon asked. She waddled into the water.

"Wait for me," Picamon said, "C'mon, Gabumon, you're a good swimmer. Come race with us." She walked casually to the other side of him.

Gabumon seemed to shrink a little. He shook his head.

"Oh, come _on_," Picamon commanded, "I'm not a great swimmer, and I don't want to listen to Pasthamon gloat for solid month."

"I don't gloat!" Pasthamon said defensively.

Gabumon shook his head again.

"Why not?" Picamon questioned, "You won't smell that bad."

Gabumon looked embarrassed and shook his head a third time. Picamon looked annoyed. She shoved him into the water. Gabumon gained the annoyed look as Picamon laughed.

"Come race, ya chicken!" Pasthamon challenged. Gabumon sighed. He and Picamon got in line next to her.

"To the opposite bank and back," Picamon said, "You gotta touch it. No cheating."

"On your marks…" Tentomon said.

"Get set…" Agumon said.

"GO!" the two said in unison.

Pasthamon, Picamon, and Gabumon pushed away from the bank and swam toward the other side. Picamon began to fall back a little, but the other two powered on ahead.

"And the race is on!" Agumon announced, "Picamon is holding back! She's almost outta the runnin'!"

Pasthamon's long neck let her tap the bank without being right by it, so she turned around and headed the other way before Gabumon and Picamon.

"And here comes Pasthamon in the backstretch!" Agumon cried, causing Tentomon to flutter away while plugging his ears, "Gabumon goin' to the inside! Picamon, scratch, for another race! And it looks like Pasthamon…!"

As Pasthamon approached the bank, Gabumon stuck his head under water and fired his Blue Blaster backward. It propelled him onto the bank. Pasthamon slid on a split second later. After several seconds, Picamon walked on and shook her fur all over everyone.

"…and the winner gets it all!" Agumon cried and raise Gabumon's paw into the air. Pasthamon nodded respectfully. Picamon collapsed in exhaustion. As proof she'd had fun, her three black-tipped bob tails wagged a little.

***

__

I've never seen more clueless creatures! Easy! EASY prey! They'll never stand a chance! Go! Go my minions! Kill them! Kill them all!

Six months later…

TK wandered aimlessly along a beach and stared at the sunrise. The cool morning breeze blew past him, and he shivered in loneliness, not coldness. Ever since Cifermon's attack had knocked them off the cliff, TK had been separated from the rest of the group.

Loneliness, fear, and sadness filled his mind. He kept putting his hand on top of his head, expecting to feel Patamon. Yet there was nothing. Any other time he'd been alone in the DigiWorld, Patamon had been there, but now there was no one….

A tear escaped his eye as he surveyed the beach. Far away, at the end of the beach among the cliffs, he spotted something. Hoping it was another of his group or a Digimon that could help him, he ran toward it.

He was exhausted by the time he got there, but he was inconceivably relieved when he saw the whatever again. His Digivice beeped.

"Kari!" he cried. She was unconscious and laying on her side. He dropped to his knees beside and her and shook her shoulder.

"Hmm?" she mumbled. She blinked and looked up at him. She looked amazed and insanely happily. She sat up, threw her arms around his neck, and cried, "Oh, TK! You don't know how happy I am to see you! I'm glad you're okay!" 

TK was surprised by her sudden hug, so he hesitated before hugging her back. He said, "I'm glad to see you too. Have you seen any of the others?"

Kari pulled away and looked sad, "No. I haven't. I've seen a few Digimon, but not any that we know."

***

"No, no, no… You must keep your paws up, Child."

"Yes, Master Aikimon," Patamon said dizzily, having been karate-chopped into a padded post. They were in a large room where the walls, floor, and random posts were covered with blue pads. 

Aikimon looked like Bruce Lee, a martial arts sensei, and a character from The Planet of the Apes all rolled into one four-foot-high Digimon. He had a short flexible tail that was tipped with a dagger-like spike.

"Child," he said as Patamon got back up, "why do you wish to know this art? You of all people should know well enough that we may now live without the threat of evil at our backs." 

"I want to learn Lunatsu because I do not trust prophecies, and I can not Digivolve without T.K," Patamon said. He leaped forward and weakly punched at Aikimon, only to be blocked. He blocked Aikimon's punch, jumped out of range, and added, "And I don't like being called Child."

"You are a child," Aikimon said, relieving himself of his combat stance, "Take a break now."

Patamon did the same. He bowed while making sure to keep his eyes on Aikimon. He started to turn away and head for the door, but tried another futile hit on his sensei. Aikimon grabbed his paw, flipped him into the air, and slammed him down on the padding.

"At least you are persistent," Aikimon said, sounding annoyed, "Now be gone, Child."

Patamon nodded and flew out the door.

***

During the night, Gatomon slept on the top branches of a tall tree. The tree was one of many in another large nameless forest. Her eyes snapped open. She raised her head looked around. She stood and put her paw over the whistle that hung around her neck. 

***

Tai, Sora, Matt, and Vanessa passed through another forest. They all looked depressed. Tai inspected his Digivice.

"I wonder why the Digivices didn't work _before_ we'd found each other," Tai thought aloud.

"Maybe they're only working at short range for some reason," Sora said.

"Or maybe they needed a jumpstart," Matt suggested, "We haven't used them in a while."

Tai nodded and stopped walking. He said, "We'd better set up camp. Who wants to keep watch?"

"I will," Vanessa volunteered, "but what am I watching for?"

"Cifermon or anyone else that would try and kill us," Tai said.

"And it doesn't matter how cute they are," Sora added.

"Stupid Cifermon," Vanessa muttered, "Mechazapermon could take out that stupid Easter Bunny look-alike."

Everyone got visibly sadder at the thought of their Digimon. Vanessa mentally slapped herself as everyone sat down.

***

"Izzy?" Levia asked, "How long have we been stuck here?"

Izzy sighed, knowing that she had asked that question every few days. He checked his computer's calendar and said, "Eight months, one fortnight, and three days."

"Ohh," Levia moaned. She collapsed onto her back in the dirt. Izzy gazed of the cliff of the mountain and down at the ground. He saw more and more cliffs and forests galore, but nothing helpful. 

***

__

Four months later…

T.K and Kari wandered along the top of the cliffs by the beach. This time it was sunset. Kari's hair was almost shoulder-length now, and it was pretty messy. She sighed sadly as she stared at the sun's reflection in the water.

TK put his hand on her shoulder and said, "Don't worry, Kari, we'll find our way back with the others…someday…."

"Sometimes… someday just doesn't come," Kari said sadly.

TK looked hurt. For the first time in four years, the golden symbol of the Crest of Hope shone brightly through his shirt. He turned Kari toward him, grabbed her shoulders, shook her, and cried, "Are you nuts?! Don't you have anymore faith than that?! Pull yourself together!"

Kari shoved away from him faced the other way with her arms folded angrily.

TK folded his arms too and said, "Fine. Be that way. See if I care."

Kari squeezed her eyes shut as they started to water.

After a moment TK began, "Ya know, we should p—"

"Oh, shut up," Kari said quietly.

"What?" TK asked, "C'mon, Kari, lighten up. I'm your side here."

"Leave me alone," Kari said, turning away as he tried to get in front of her.

"Look, if you're upset that I shook you, I'm sorry," TK apologized, "I was just trying to knock some sense into you. You needed it."

"Hmph!" Kari said.

"Kari, if we give up now, we don't have—"

"Didn't you hear me?!" Kari demanded, "I said leave me alone!"

Surprised, TK said, "Kari, I—"

He stopped as Kari started running into the forest.

***

Gatomon continued to follow her mysterious gut feeling. It was dark again, and she leaped through the forest with the skill and agility that only a cat can have. The trees, ground, and randomly placed Digimon were mere blurs as she practically flew past them. She exited the forest and ran on the between the line on trees and the ocean-side line of cliffs.

"Yahh! Look out!"

She tried to stop, but she slammed into something that was moving quickly and horizontally to her path. She was knocked back. She and the other thing hit the ground hard. She stood, claws ready, to face the challenger.

"Hey," she said, "Watch where you're…Patamon?!"

"Gatomon?!" the other object demanded. Patamon tackle hugged her.

"Uh, hi!" she said happily as she stood back up, hugged Patamon, and pried him off her.

***

"Kari!" TK cried, "Come _on_! Get a grip!" He ran behind her, grabbed the back of her shirt, and pulled her toward him.

"Let me go!" Kari ordered. She was crying.

"Oh, Kari, I'm sorry," TK said, "I didn't mean to make you upset. I don't want you to give up. If you do, we'll never stand a chance of finding the others." He knew that Kari could fight pretty well considering she didn't have any training. Thus he knew he was risking bodily injury when he pulled her into a hug.

Without pulling away or hugging him back, Kari sniffled and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. She mumbled, "I'm sorry, I'm being a big baby."

"Don't worry," TK said, "It's okay now."

Kari hugged him and said, "Thanks, you're a great friend."

"You know you can count on me," TK said, "I'd do almost anything for you."

Both of their crest's symbols glowed for a moment before making their whole bodies glow pink and gold. In the darkness of the forest, their glows pitched light across the plants.

"Oh, how cute," a voice said.

Startled, TK and Kari look over to see a fireball on the ground as their glowing faded. It was probably a foot across and had short legs with paws. It had big black eyes that twinkled with an evil grin. It had a mouth that was only visible when it talked.

"Hello, O Great DigiDestined," the fireball said snidely, "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Pyromon, and I work for the great, deviously clever, and ever-so-mighty Cifermon. And it's my duty to bring your pitiful lives to an end…."

"Get lost!" TK ordered.

"Hmph!" Pyromon said. Smoke billowed up from the top of his head and formed a pair of gray transparent wings at his sides. He flapped them and took flight. He cried, "Dragon Pelt!"

He burned brighter and flew at Kari. She gasped, but TK jumped in front of her. Pyromon and his flames hit TK in the back. They were both knocked to the ground.

"T.K? Why did you do that?" Kari asked gratefully. He had landed on top of her and was cringing in pain. She put her hands on his cheeks and looked into his eyes before turning her eyes hatefully to Pyromon.

"Pathetic, aren't you?" Pyromon said, "If it makes you little saps feel better, you spent your last few seconds together… yuck… Dragon Peh—!"

Something fairly large flew into Pyromon and smacked him into a tree. It flew into the air out of site. The sound of a whistle resonated through the air as Kari's symbol of Light glowed for just a few seconds. 

When the flying thing came back, it came close enough to see that it looked like a tawny-colored armored horse with large beige wings on it shoulders. This time it had a rider.

"Is that…?" TK asked uncertainly.

"No way," Kari said.

The horse reared back and flapped its wings toward Pyromon, causing a huge burst of wind. Pyromon's paws tried to grip the ground, but his wings were blown away. The horse stood back on all fours as its rider pulled out a bow.

"Celestial Arrow!" the rider called.

"YAHH!" Pyromon screamed. The glowing arrow reduced Pyromon to Digi-dust.

"Angewomon!" Kari cried happily. Angewomon flew off the horse and help TK and Kari up. Kari helped TK stay standing as Angewomon de-digivolved to Gatomon.

"Patamon?" TK asked as the horse walked over. He had spotted the Digimon's wing-like ears.

The Digimon nodded and rubbed up against TK as he said, "I'm Pegasusmon. I don't know why I digivolved differently, but I'm glad you're okay. I really missed you."

"I missed you too," TK said and hugged Pegasusmon's head.

"It's so nice to see you again, Kari," Gatomon said. She jumped into Kari's arms, and the two hugged each other. She blew her whistle quietly.

"T.K, you're injured," Pegasusmon said, "I can take you to Primary Village. The doctor there will help you."

"Uh, sure," TK said, "Thanks."

This left Pegasusmon flying over the ocean with T.K, Kari, and Gatomon on his back. After the long flight over the water and a little bit of land, Pegasusmon landed beneath the toy tree.

***

"That's Metacurmon," Izzy said as he and Levia ran for their lives through the forest, "He's fast-running Digimon, but he lacks endurance, so if we can keep running, we might loose him."

"But _I_ lack endurance!" Levia protested.

"And he has a great sense of smell," Izzy added, "Even if we loose his him now, if he's determined enough, he'll get us sooner or later."

"Oh," Levia moaned. She tripped on a tree root and fell.

"Levia!" Izzy skidded to a stop and turned back to her.

"Arrooo!" a sound echoed. A five-foot-high canine-like Digimon landed over top of Levia and grinned evilly. It was dark yellow and head a face mask like Unimon, but it was black with a red line. The Digimon had a pair of fangs, short pointed ears, and a short slender tail. Its legs ended in scaly yellow talons. 

"Go away, you stupid mutt!" Levia screamed at Metacurmon.

"Coyote Snah—!" Metacurmon was cut off as something hit him in the forehead. It knocked his head aside just a little. It was enough for the white blast of light that came from his mouth to miss Levia's head by inches. Izzy's closed laptop clattered to the ground.

"Serves you right," Izzy said.

"Coyote Snap!" Metacurmon exclaimed. He fired his attack at Izzy, who barely dodged. While he wasn't looking, Levia crawled away. After a lot of firing, Metacurmon managed to herd the two of them together and cornered them against a large tree. He charged up for another attack.

Levia and Izzy saw something glowing in the air as it fell and grew. By the time it stopped growing, it was about twelve feet long excluding its long neck and tail. It landed on Metacurmon and pressed him against the ground. His attack flew through the air.

"Manteemon!" Levia cried.

The Digimon, which looked like a plus-sized Pasthamon with a horn on its forehead and spikes down its spine, waddled backward off of Metacurmon. Metacurmon stood up and turned to his attacker.

"Electro Shocker!" someone cried. Before the ball of electricity was thrown at Metacurmon, it lit the sky up enough to see the outline of Kabuterimon. The attack knocked Metacurmon down, but he got back up and blasted both Digimon back.

Manteemon cried, "Manteemon digivolve to… Mermaimon!"

Mermaimon was smaller than Manteemon and had no physical resemblance. She was a human-sized mermaid with a blue tail and silvery blue shells covering what body parts had to be covered. Her hair was shoulder length and a mix of white, silver, and several shades of blue. The wings on her shoulder blades were more like big cerulean bird wings and were different than those of Angemon and Angewomon. 

She took flight near Kabuterimon. They dodged Metacurmon's Coyote Snap. A silver trident appeared in Mermaimon's hands. She spun it around above her head like a baton as it started to glow. She held it toward Metacurmon, cried, "Freeze Beam!" and shot three blue beams out from the tips. The beams twisted around Metacurmon, widened and formed a block of ice around him. Kabuterimon's Electro Shocker blew him to atoms. The ice was blown into tiny snowflakes.

"Izzy!" Tentomon cried after de-digivolving. Izzy hugged and practically choked him. Mermaimon de-digivolved into Pasthamon and jumped into Levia's arms, knocking her down.

"I missed you, Pasthamon!" Levia said.

"Mmm," Pasthamon squeaked happily as she nuzzled Levia's cheek.

"Izzy…you're choking me…" Tentomon said.

"Sorry," Izzy said and released Tentomon, "but I haven't seen you in a long time."

"It's nice to see you too," Tentomon admitted, "Are the others around?"

"No," Izzy said, "It's just us."

"Thanks, Izzy," Levia said as she handed him his laptop.

Izzy took it and asked, "What did I do?"

"You risked getting your computer blown to bits to save me," Levia said.

"Well it _is_ more easily replaced," Izzy said.

"It's so nice for us all to be together," Pasthamon said sobbingly. She used her flippers to pull the four of them into a group hug.

***

Matt, Vanessa, Tai, and Sora surrounded a campfire within another large nameless forest. The others were asleep, but Matt stayed awake to keep watch. He played his harmonica quietly as he stared into the forest. After a few minutes, he pulled it away, yawned, drooped his head, and closed his eyes.

Upon hearing the sound of rustling leaves, he snapped up and looked around. He saw the outline of a pair of glittering eyes reflecting the campfire light. The creature, to which the eyes belonged, stayed still for a moment, then lunged at him so fast he couldn't see it. He was knocked onto his back and the thing was on top of him.

Everyone jumped up as he shouted. He squeezed his eyes closed as something wet slid over his face repeatedly. The others looked panicked for moment, then they laughed.

"What's so funny?!" Matt demanded.

"Open your eyes, Matt," Vanessa said.

His head was turned to the side, but he opened his eyes and saw a pair of big brown ones. Gabumon stopped licking his face and hugged him.

"Gabumon?!" Matt cried.

"Matt! I missed you so much!" Gabumon said.

"I missed you too," Matt admitted, "but did you have to tackle me? And I didn't ask Santa for a puppy for a reason…."

"I'm sorry," Gabumon said. He got off Matt and let him get up. Sora felt something rub against her leg. She looked down and saw Biyomon.

"Oh, Biyomon!" Sora cried. She picked her up and hugged her.

"Hey, Tai!"

"Agumon!" Tai realized as he turned and saw Agumon behind him.

"Yah-hah!"

Vanessa jumped left. Picamon right to the front and right of where she had been. She stood on her hind legs and hugged Vanessa. 

"Don't you usually dodge to the right?" she asked.

"Yeah," Vanessa said, "but I knew you'd expect me to go right, and you'd get me. So I went left instead."

Picamon giggled.

***

Mimi looked up at a large rectangular sign with rounded corners and light blue and words. It had something written largely on it in DigiCode. There were small cozy-looking buildings a little ways down the dirt trail behind it. 

"Oh… I wish I knew that language…" Mimi mumbled.

"Excuse me ma'am?" a voice said, "Do you need help?"

Mimi turned around and saw no one. She looked down and spotted a Koromon looking up at her. 

"Oh, Koromon, is Tai around?" Mimi asked.

"Uh, I thing you have the wrong Digimon…" the Koromon said uneasily.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Mimi said. She pointed to the sign and asked, "Do you think you could translate this for me? I can't read DigiCode."

"Sure," Koromon said. Without looking at the sign, he said, "It says, 'Welcome to Sapphire Village, the town on the edge of the Turquoise Sands.'"

"Thank you," Mimi said, "but what is the Turquoise Sands?"

"That's the desert that's on the other side of this town," Koromon said, "It tends to be quite a tourist attraction. I'm surprised you haven't heard of it."

"I…I'm not from around here," Mimi explained.

"Ah," Koromon said, "I'm glad I could help you out, but I have to go now. Goodbye."

"Thank you, goodbye," Mimi said. The Koromon bounced into the town and disappeared while she stood there and looked at the sign wearily. She glanced back at the forest she'd come from and sighed. 

She felt lost, and she and her clothes were dirty. She'd long since grown out of her pink dress, and she'd dropped her hat as she left the DigiWorld. Now she wore jeans, a pair of boots, and a white shirt. Her hair hung down.

She caught a movement out of the corner of her eyes. She turned back toward the forest and saw a pair of Gekomon walking toward her. They were talking to each other and they didn't notice her until they got closer.

"P-princess Mimi?" one of them stuttered in disbelief.

"Hello," Mimi said kindly, "How have you been?"

"Wow! It really _is_ you!" the second cried. They hugged her legs.

"It's great to see you, Princess!" the first one cried.

"Hey, none of that 'Princess Mimi' stuff, remember?" Mimi said.

"Oh, sorry," the first Gekomon said. They un-clung from her legs.

"Are you hungry?" the second one asked.

"Yeah, we'd love to get you some food."

"Oh, could you?" Mimi asked gratefully, "I'm starved!"

"Okay, come with us!"

They took her to one of the buildings and gave her a lunch fit for a starving princess. Most if was in the "junk food" category, but some of it was healthy.

"Mimi, do you think you could do us a favor?" one Gekomon asked after Mimi was finished eating.

"I suppose," Mimi said, "What do you need?"

***

It was the next day, and Joe was wandering nervously through Sapphire Village. There were several Gekomon, Otamamon, Koromon, Yokomon, Pabumon, Punimon, Numomon, and tons of other Digimons which he'd never seen. A lot of Digimons were surrounding a building that was a lot larger than the others. It looked like it could be a small auditorium. 

And sure enough, there was a Gekomon and an Otamamon standing atop the tiny decorative ledge that was above the door. Otamamon was yelling, "If you're someone who's overcome with boredom, come see the show! For today only, it's free! For anyone who's in a bad mood, come see the Princess that has a magical voice!"

"Hmm," Joe wondered. After repeating their advertisement several times, Gekomon opened the big front door, and Joe followed the crowd inside.

Digimons were cramming themselves into the room like sardines. Because he was a lot taller than them all, Joe stood against the back wall near the door and watched the staged wearily. It was hidden with a magenta curtain.

The Digimons became silent as the lights of the room reduced to a pair of spotlights that shone on the stage curtain. The curtain rose slowly, first revealing the performer's pink toe-exposing high heels. She was wearing a knee-length pink frilled skirt and had both a black belt and her hands on her waist. She had long blonde hair and a white short-sleeved midriff shirt. The crowd of Digimons cheered as the curtain rose enough to show the girl's face.

"Woah," Joe murmured, "Is that Mimi?"

"What makes you think she isn't?" a nearby Gekomon whispered.

"Well, I, uh…" Joe stuttered, "It's…It's just that…dang, she's cute…."

The Gekomon chose that moment to scoot away from him as Mimi's background music began.

__

It's too dark down here for her to notice me, Joe thought.

"Ya know, a dream is like river, ever changin' as it flows," Mimi sang, "And a dreamer's just a vessel that must follow where it goes. Trying to learn from what's behind you, and never knowing what's in store, makes each day a constant battle, just to stay between the shores."

The music got a little louder, and she started moving to it as she sang.

"But I will sail my vessel, 'til the river runs dry. Like a bird upon the wind, these waters are my sky. I'll never reach my destination, if I never try. So I will sail my vessel, 'til river runs dry…."

When she was done singing a few minutes later, Mimi bowed, and the curtain lowered. Then the lights came back on. Joe and the Digimons all had rather amazed expressions. After a few seconds the crowd cheered extremely loudly.

"Nice song, huh?" someone with a feminine voice asked.

"Yup, real profound," said someone else

"Maybe she's added more meaning to the lives of all these little Numomon," the first person said. 

"What'd you think, Joe?"

"Uh-huh," Joe mumbled. If he'd been paying attention, he would've recognized the voices.

"Joe? DigiWorld to Joe!" the speaker hopped up onto his shoulder and slyly asked, "What'd you like more, the song or singer?"

"Huh? Gomamon?!" Joe demanded.

Gomamon rolled his eyes and said, "No, I'm the Easter Bunny…."

"Don't mention Easter Bunnies!" Joe ordered as the other members of the audience began to file out of the room.

"Uh, okay…" Gomamon said. After a moment, he hugged Joe's head almost desperately and cried, "Yay! Joe! You're back…! YAY!"

Palmon, who wore Mimi's hat, laughed as Joe flailed his limbs blindly. After Gomamon was pried off, she said, "Hey, maybe we can get a backstage pass. I can't wait to see Mimi again."

"Neither can I," Joe said, "After we came back to the DigiWorld, we all got separated… or at least I did. I haven't seen her for, like, a year."

"You've been here a whole year?!" Gomamon demanded.

"I don't know, I guess," Joe said, "I don't exactly have a calendar."

"But you were here a long time and you didn't tell me?!" Gomamon cried.

"I couldn't find a phone book that had you listed," Joe explained defensively.

"Hey, are you Mimi's friends?" a Gekomon asked. He and a few others of his kind were the only people left in the auditorium.

"Uh, yeah," Joe said.

"Do you want to see her?"

"Yeah!" Palmon cried.

As Gekomon led them backstage, Gomamon grinned and said, "Ya know, Joe, you never answered my questioned." 

"What question was that?" Joe asked.

"What'd you like more?" Gomamon said, "The song or the singer?"

"Huh?" Joe asked, pretending he didn't fully understand the question.

"You know what I mean," Gomamon said silkily, "I saw you blushing…."

"You've _got_ to be kidding," Joe said as his face reddened.

"I heard you say something…" Gomamon said thoughtfully, "What was that he said, Palmon?"

As they stopped, Palmon said, "He said—and I quote—'Dang, she's cute.'"

"Okay, okay, she's good-looking, and I didn't even hear half the song," Joe confessed, "Just don't tell Mimi that!" 

Gekomon knocked on the nearby door and waited until he heard someone say, "Come in," before he opened it.

"Mimi?" Gekomon asked. She was sitting at dresser with a mirror. She had tears streaming out of her eyes, and there was a watery-eyed Numomon sitting on the dresser. Gekomon asked, "What's wrong?"

Mimi smiled hopefully at him through the mirror. "Nothing now," she said and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, "or at least… not if I heard what I thought I heard…."

"Hey, Mimi," Joe said cheerfully as he stepped into her view.

"Joe!" Mimi cried. To Joe's surprise, she rushed over and hugged him. She said, "Are any of the others with you?"

"Uh, define 'others,'" Joe said as Mimi stopped hugging him and the Gekomon excused himself. 

"Other members of humanity," Mimi snapped.

"Nope, no others," Joe said. Mimi sighed.

"What? You don't want to see _us_? Fine, be that way…."

"Gomamon?" Mimi asked.

"Mimi!" Palmon ran in and hugged her.

"Oh, Palmon! I missed you so much!" Mimi cried. A fresh stream of tears came from her eyes.

"I missed you too, Mimi," Palmon said cheerfully, "You can have you hat back now."

"You can keep it," Mimi said.

"Thanks," Palmon said, "By the way, nice show."

"Ya think so?" Mimi asked.

"Mmm-hmm," Palmon nodded, "I thought you were done with princess show-business stuff, though."

"Well, the Gekomon were nice enough to give me some food," Mimi said, "so I did them a favor. They said that the Digimon in this town were either grouchy or bored. Do you think my song helped?"

"Yep," Palmon said, "They were amazed by your performance. You should've seen their faces."

"Even J—" Gomamon stopped in mid-word as Joe's foot collided with his back flipper. He winced in pain, tried to disguise it as a smile, and said, "I forgot what I was gonna say…. Oh, well… It wasn't important…."

"I wonder if you could become a professional singer or something," Joe said, "All the Digimon seem to like you well enough."

"Really?" Mimi wondered and her eyes began to sparkle, "Ooh, I always wanted to be a professional singer…or a model… but that's beside the point."

Palmon waved her hands in front of Mimi's eyes and got no response. She shrugged and sighed.

"Great…" Gomamon said, "I hope these little vacations to La-La Land aren't too frequent." He turned to Joe; "You're both having a problem with 'em." 

"Snap out of it, Mimi," Joe said. He snapped his fingers in front of her face and brought her back to reality. 

"I bet the Gekomon wouldn't mind helping you get started," Gomamon said.

"Yeah," Palmon said, "Can we help you?"

"Sure," Mimi smiled.

***

One of the only neatly-groomed Mojyimon in existence helped TK hobble into a room that looked surprisingly like a normal doctor's office that you might find in the real world. Patamon fluttered above them as TK climbed painfully onto the examination table and laid on his stomach.

"Are you gonna be okay, T.K?" Patamon asked.

"Yeah," TK said, resting his chin on his arms. The back of his green tee-shirt had a large circular burn mark on it. Mojyimon pulled the bottom of his shirt up to his chest and reveal a synchronizing red mark on TK's lower back.

"Looks painful," Patamon observed.

"I can deal," TK said. As Mojyimon gingerly touched his wound, he accidentally squeaked and widened his eyes in pain. He squeezed his eyes shut and gritted his teeth while Mojyimon inspected his ribs.

"I think the impact of that fireball hurt you more than the fire," Mojyimon noted. TK's head snapped up and he cried out. Mojyimon calmly said, "I'm guessing one or more of your ribs are broken."

"Oh, just peachy…" TK grumbled.

After a lot of painful movement, he was moved into the special x-ray room through the second door in the room. Mojyimon looked around, frowned, clapped his hands, and cried, "Assistant?! I need the X-ray Technician!"

"Yes, Dr. Mojyimon?" a four-foot-high kangaroo asked curtly after it sped into the room. It was mostly white with small irregular sky-blue spots covering its back and big green eyes.

"What's that, Patamon?" TK asked.

"He's Subjimon," Patamon explained, "He's a rather common Rookie Digimon. He and the others of his kind usually spend their whole lives in servitude to the same person. Serfdom is a natural part of their DNA."

"Oh," TK said.

All three Digimon entered the small side room, and Subjimon gave TK his x-ray. He then left the room. He came back a few seconds later with a wheelchair. Everyone helped TK into it, and Patamon struggled to push the chair back into the other room.

"You've gotten pretty tough, buddy," TK said as Patamon flapped furiously. 

Subjimon came into the room. He said, "Dr. Mojyimon would like for you to sit back on the table. Do you require assistance?"

"Um, yeah," TK said. 

After helping him back onto the table, Subjimon said, "While the doctor is examining your x-rays, you may have visitors. Would you like me to summon your comrade?"

"Kari? Sure," TK said gratefully.

Subjimon wordlessly gave a single nod and left the room.

"If you gave that guy one of those weird hats," TK said after a moment, "he'd be just like those dudes at Buckingham Palace."

"What palace?" Patamon questioned.

"Never mind."

"Hey, TK" Kari said cheerfully after opening the door. Subjimon and Gatomon followed her into the room. She and Gatomon sat on the table with TK and Patamon while Subjimon began working with things at the counter.

"Hi," TK said.

"Are you feeling okay?" Kari asked.

"Yep," TK said confidently.

"You're sure?" Kari questioned gently, "It doesn't hurt, does it?"

"Nah, perfectly painless," TK insisted. He winced painfully when he felt Kari's fingertips softly touch his back where he'd been hit. He murmured, "Okay, so it does sting… just a little…."

"I'm sorry," Kari said.

"For what?' TK asked.

Without looking at him, Kari said, "If it weren't for me, you never would have gotten hit by that fireball… Oh, and thanks for protecting me and all."

"Kari, it was no problem," TK insisted, "I got hit in the back, and you would've been hit in the front. I'm sure I got hurt less that you would have. Besides, who cares what happens as long as it all works out in the end? I have a broken rib or two, but I'll be fine… and I did get lucky, but maybe you wouldn't have."

He instantly regretted saying the part about luck. He'd proposed that he would have been a lot worse off if he hadn't been lucky. Kari's eye sockets filled with water. Gatomon started to say something, but she stopped when she realized she didn't have anything to say. TK looked desperately to Patamon and Gatomon in hopes for a clue as to what to say.

"Don't cry, please," TK requested.

If Kari heard him, she chose not to show the fact.

"Come on," TK pleaded, "We're both having a bad day, and seeing you cry only makes me feel worse."

Kari wiped her eyes and mumbled, "I'm sorry."

"And please stop apologizing," TK said exasperatedly.

"I—" Kari stopped, realizing that she was about to apologize again. By the time TK finished a blink Kari was leaning toward him with her hands on his shoulder. There were still remnants of her tears, but she was smiling now. She blushed and said, "Ya know, you _did_ save my life…. I owe you one."

"Just cheer up and let bygones be bygones," TK said, "and we'll call it even."

"Drink this," Subjimon said, thus interrupting the mawkish moment by shoving a glass of what appeared to be water into TK's face. 

"Uh, okay," TK said. He downed the entire glass in about three gulps.

Kari giggled, "You weren't thirsty, were you?"

TK smiled and shrugged. Gatomon walked around them and over near Patamon. She beckoned for him to land.

He stood on the tabled next to her, and she whispered, "I always knew those two were close, but how close do you think they are?"

"Ya never know," Patamon whispered back, "Notice the repeated blushing."

Right after that was said, TK's face reddened as Kari scooted a millimeter closer to him.

"Just out of curiosity," Kari said, "why do you always seem to think that it's your responsibility to protect me?"

"If it's one of those times when you need protected," TK said, "then I'll want to protect you. You're my friend, and I don't want you to get hurt."

"Thanks, you're sweet," Kari said. She smiled lovably and made TK blush a little more.

"What do you think that's for?" Patamon asked quietly.

After seeing Subjimon handling a needle syringe, Gatomon said, "TK obviously."

"I really don't like needles," Patamon said uneasily.

"It's not for you," Gatomon said.

"Yeah, I know, but…."

"You've stood up to Peidmon's Trump Sword," Gatomon reminded, "Don't tell me you're deathly afraid of needles."

"Okay, I won't tell you… but I can't watch!" He hugged her desperately and buried his face in her fur. Despite being rather annoyed, Gatomon sympathetically patted his back.

"Humans are…weird," Gatomon said.

"Huh?" Patamon asked. He looked at TK and Kari, who had their arms around each other and their lips pressed together. Patamon said, "You're right."

He squeaked and hid his eyes again as Subjimon approached the table. He ignored TK and Kari and stuck the needle into TK's upper arm. Kari pulled her head away from him. His eyes drooped, and he went limp.

"Out like a light," Gatomon observed, "That anesthesia worked fast."

__

I wonder what knocked him out, Patamon thought to himself after pulled away from Gatomon, _Kari or the anesthesia?_

"That was pain-killer," Subjimon said, "not anesthesia." He gave TK another shot.

__

That answered that question, Patamon thought.


	3. New Lives

Digimon: Digital Monsters

The Next Creation

#2: New Lives

by Seruyamon  
(Cyllya)

"We need a song that they'll really like," Mimi said, "Maybe something profound, since they liked 'Vessel.'"

"I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm drawing a big fat blank," Gomamon said miserably. He was sitting opposite of Mimi at a small square card table. Joe and Palmon sat at the remaining sides. They were in Mimi's dressing room.

"Me too," Joe said.

"Me three," Palmon moaned.

"You could sing "Vessel" again," Joe suggested.

"I'll do that," Mimi said, "but I'll need something new too. You guys wanted to help, so start helping."

"Do you know all the words to 'Wide Open Spaces?'" Joe asked.

"I don't think so, but maybe," Mimi thought, "Any other ideas?"

"I know a good song, but it would sound awkward in the DigiWorld," Joe sighed.

"Maybe something by… what was her name? Faith?" Palmon asked.

"Faith?" Mimi asked, "Yep, that's her. I think I know 'El Vida Loca.' It's like, 'El Vida Loca, over and over. Destiny turns on a dime. I go where the wind blows. You can't tame a wild rose. Welcome to my crazy life.'"

"That's a nice one," Gomamon commented.

"Yeah," Mimi said, "Since I can't be sued here, I can do that one, 'Vessel,' and 'Wide Open Spaces.'"

"Good plan," Joe said.

"I'll rehearse," Mimi said, "And the rest of you try to write me a song."

Joe, Gomamon, and Palmon sighed.

***

__

One year later…

"Okay everyone," TK said to a group off about twenty baby Digimon, "Use your counters to count it out. Come on. Two plus one. You can do it."

They were sitting in the grass atop a small hill near Primary Village's Hatching Grounds. Each of the twenty Digimon had ten inch-wide plastic squares on the ground in front of them. They all nudged two squares over to one side and then added a third one. A Pabumon in the front row hopped up and down.

"Do you have an answer?" TK asked it.

"Pabu! Pabu! Pabu!" Pabumon said.

"That's correct," TK said, "Good job." He looked at his watch, clapped his hands together, and said, "Alright, class, preschool's over. Go on home everyone."

The Digimon hopped down the hill toward the eggs and cradles.

"Goodbye, everyone," TK said as he stood up and waved to them, "See you tomorrow."

Patamon flew up the hill toward him, and he felt someone's arms wrap around his shoulders from behind.

"Having fun, Aino-chan?" Kari asked as she put her head on his shoulder.

"You bet," TK said cheerfully. He kissed her cheek, and she hugged him a little tighter. Gatomon landed on top of their heads.

"Now that _that_ class is over," she said lightheartedly, "it's time for _your_ education to continue!"

TK groaned.

"Oh, you knew you couldn't run from those quadratic equations forever," Kari said, "Don't feel bad. Math annoys me too, but I'm having trouble with language."

"Digi-Code?" TK asked.

"Yep, but I have all three alphabets down."

"Cool."

"Come on," Gatomon urged, "Or I'm giving you both a tardy slip."

"Hold your Ponimons," Kari laughed, "Come on, TK" She grabbed his wrist and pulled him down the hill with Gatomon right behind them.

"Hey, wait for me!" Patamon cried before coughing, "I think I have the flu!"

"Don't even try to fake sick!" Gatomon ordered.

***

"Two years and three days," Izzy mumbled to himself. He turned his head upward away from his computer to look wearily through the tree branches and at the gibbous moon.

"Already?"

Izzy turned to Levia and Pasthamon. He'd assumed they and Tentomon were asleep. Apparently Pasthamon was, but Levia looked up at him and sighed as he nodded.

"Isn't time still synchronized with the Digital World and the Real World?" she asked.

"To the best of my knowledge," Izzy answered. He shut his laptop down, sat it next to him, and laid down with his backpack for a pillow. 

Levia got up carefully so she wouldn't wake Pasthamon and laid back down next to him. She sighed sadly and mumbled, "We'll get back, won't we?"

"Someday…" Izzy said. 

"Someway…" Levia mumbled, "Good night."

"Good night."

***

A golden squirrel-like feline Digimon cringed as a fair-skinned human fist slammed down on the table she was laying on. Several gray-cloaked figures around the stone- and metal-walled room stopped what they were doing and turned to look at the raged-filled teenager by the table.

"What's wrong, M'nai?" the Digimon asked cautiously in her high gentle voice. She was a little under two feet long, excluding the long bushy tail of the same length. Her legs were short, and she had big brown eyes.

The girl who had pounded the table angrily turned her mahogany eyes toward the Digimon. She inhaled like she was about to shout, but she collapsed onto the table and began to sob.

"He's gone, isn't he?" the Digimon asked as she walked silently over to the girl on all fours.

The girl stood up straight, nodded, and brushed her short neatly-trimmed brown hair out of her face. She stammered, "Y-yeah…yeah, he's gone."

"I'm sorry, M'nai," the Digimon said sadly.

"Yeah," M'nai sniffled and tried to smile, "but it's okay. I miss him already, but I can take care of things. I mean, I'm sixteen now, and I'm really responsible. So what if the fate of two worlds rests on my shoulders for the next, um, decade or so? I can handle it. I'll be j-just fine."

"I'm sure," the Digimon said, making a mental note of the fact that M'nai didn't sound very confident. Her hands quivered and fidgeted with her gray cloak, like she was teetering on the brink of insanity.

He eyes flicked over to the people around her. She turned toward them and demanded, "What?! What are you looking at?"

The cloaked figures hesitated. One of them ventured to say, "Well, M'nai, we sincerely regret your grandfather's decease…but you are in charge now."

"I know that," M'nai said simply. After the men neither said nor did anything, she demanded, "What?! Do you need orders?! Hmm…Let's go bake cookies! C'mon you nitwits! You know what you have to do! We have a prophecy to help forfill here! Get back to work!"

As the men scrambled back to their places, M'nai raised the hood of her cloak and turned wordlessly to a nearby computer console.

***

"Thanks for writing this song for me, Palmon," Mimi said. She was backstage wearing a short blue dress.

"No problem," Palmon said, "You came up with a lot of the lyrics. I just had to fill in the blanks and give it a tune…. In fact, you had such a strong idea on the topic, I could've swore that you were personally thinking the same thing…."

Mimi laughed, "Don't be silly. Who could I possibly be singing to?"

Remembering her promise, Palmon said, "Good point."

"Besides, those Numomon think I'm cute," Mimi said, "It works out."

"Yeah," Palmon agreed, "Well, you'd better get out there, your fans are waiting. Good luck."

"Thanks," Mimi said. She walked onto the stage right as Joe and Gomamon came up behind Palmon. She took a deep breath, straightened her dress, switched on her microphone, and flashed Palmon the thumbs-up sign.

"Don't play in the first song," Palmon said to Gomamon, "It's 'Do You Really Think.'" She took out a small recorder-like instrument, went around an irrelevant curtain to be with Mimi's band, and switched on a nearby microphone. Gomamon looked confused, but he didn't say anything. He looked at Joe, who shrugged and began to open the curtain as the music played.

"I just wanted to let you know," Mimi sang before the curtain even opened all the way, "That the other day I overheard; something you should tell me; 'cause I don't think you're a nerd."

"Did we rehearse this?" Joe asked Gomamon as quietly as possible.

Gomamon shook his head.

"When I heard it I could not believe; this was something I could not conceive; I'd love it if you would relieve; me, by telling me; do you really think…? I've been your friend awhile; but this is something new; and until I overheard you; I just didn't have a clue. But now I see little hints; you blush and can stare into space; but if you really think that; then just say it to my face."

"I think Palmon wrote this," Gomamon said.

"When I heard it I could not believe; this was something I could not conceive; I'd love it if you would relieve; me, by telling me; do you really think…? I think we can start something here; but I gotta know do you really care? It doesn't matter if I'm beautiful; If all you like's my hair. When I heard it I could not believe; this was something I could not conceive; I'd love it if you would relieve; me, by telling me; do you really think…?" Twice, following a couple quick beats of Numemon's drum, she repeated, "Do you really think…?"

"And the encore," Palmon murmured to herself.

"Do you really think I'm cute?" Mimi sang, trying to sound surprised. As the mostly-invisible crowd went nuts, she glanced at Joe and smiled.

"Gomamon," Palmon said, "You can play now."

Gomamon picked up his tambourine and joined the band. He asked, "'Wide Open Spaces,' right?"

"Mmm-hmm."

***

"Wake up, Tai," Sora said. She, Tai, Matt, and Vanessa were wandering around with their Digimon and had come to a prairie and a small stream. They had chosen a spot by the steam to camp out, but now everyone but Tai was ready to keep moving.

Tai groaned in response to Sora's request.

"Come _on_, get up," Sora ordered, "or we'll just leave you here."

"See ya later," Tai mumbled.

"Oh, don't be so stubborn," Sora said.

"But I'm tired." Tai moaned.

"Get up, Tai," Agumon said.

"The others are waiting," Biyomon said.

"But I can't move," Tai said.

"Get up and get moving," Sora commanded. She pulled on his arm to no avail. She grinned, stood up, and walked over to the stream. She came back with her hands cupped and full of water, She dropped the water in Tai's face.

He sputtered, tried to dry his face on his shirt, and rolled over to be face down in the grass.

"You lazy bum," Sora complained. She knelt next to Tai and whispered something to him.

"I told you I couldn't move and I meant it," he grumbled.

"Matt came over and said, "Jeez, Tai, I think you've lost your persistent edge. Think about the others…and Kari."

Tai was instantly on his feet. He said, "Okay, let's get going." He pulled Sora and Agumon by their wrists until they matched his pace.

"It's about time," Vanessa laughed as Tai power-walked past her. She and Picamon fell into step behind him. Since she was having a hard time keeping up with him on two legs, Picamon dropped down to all fours.

"You know, you do look awfully tired, Tai," Sora said.

"I didn't get much sleep last night," Tai explained, "I couldn't go to sleep."

"Oh," Sora said.

After a few minutes, Matt started to say something but stopped. Everyone looked at him, waiting for him to continued.

"Never mind," he said.

Everyone continued to wait for him to speak as if they thought he had something important to say.

"I said 'never mind,'" Matt repeated, "…If you must know, I was about to ask if anyone had tried to keep track of how long we've been here."

"I didn't start counting soon enough because I didn't think we'd be here very long," Tai said.

"I… never really thought about it," Vanessa admitted.

"I lost track," Sora said, "but I think we've been here about two years."

"Oh," Matt sighed. 

"Two whole years, huh?" Tai asked.

"About," Sora nodded.

"I…I have trouble picturing Kari at age twelve," Tai said.

"No kidding…" Matt said, "I was hoping I'd have a driver's license by now."

"Are we sixteen?" Vanessa asked.

"Yeah," Tai said.

"Man, that is so weird," Vanessa said.

"How old were you when we all first met?" Biyomon asked, "It's hard to tell with all the time differences."

"We were eleven," Sora said, "We've known you about five years now."

"Wow," Biyomon said, "A whole half a decade!"

***

__

"A whole half a decade" later…

Izzy, Levia, Tentomon, and Pasthamon were walking along a forest trail again. They were tired, hungry, and bored.

"Hey, Izzy?" Levia asked tiredly, "Where are we now?"

Izzy wordlessly opened his laptop and did some quick typing. He held the screen toward Levia to show her a map of their area. A red dot flashed on the map. Some places around the dot were purple while the rest was green.

"We've been in the purple area?" Levia asked.

"Yep," Izzy said.

"We've been to a lot o' places," Pasthamon commented as she observed the map.

"Yet we haven't even heard about the others," Tentomon said.

"I'm not getting any readings from their Digivices either," Izzy moaned, "I can't locate them or send them transmissions. It's inconceivable."

"I keep having this feeling that someone almighty and implausibly powerful is trying to keep us apart," Pasthamon said, mostly to herself.

"Do you think so?" Levia asked nervously.

"Oh, it's just one of those gut feelings," Pasthamon said, "I've never trusted those before."

"You know, I'm getting one of the gut feelings too," Tentomon piped up.

"You feel that our separation is deliberate?" Izzy asked.

"No, I feel that I'm hungry," Tentomon said.

Izzy sighed.

"I wouldn't suppose your computer has one of those things that they have on that one TV show…Star, um, Track? Trek?" Tentomon questioned, "You know, one of those things that make food?"

"Unfortunately, no," Izzy said.

"Put it on your shopping list," Levia advised.

Izzy sighed, "I'll do that…."

"I'm sorry," Levia said, "about you having to deal with three people that aren't anywhere near as, um, aptly intelligent as you."

Izzy began to feel a little guilty about his repeated sigh. He said, "I'm not questioning anyone's intellectual advancement. Let's go find something to eat."

"Okay," Levia said.

The act of looking for something to eat consisted of walking just a tad slower and paying more attention to the surrounding vegetation as they went.

Pasthamon's ears twitched. She smiled and said, "Hey, I hear water."

"That's our girl," Levia said, "You can pinpoint water a mile away."

"Nah, about a kilometer," Pasthamon corrected.

"Where is that water?" Tentomon asked.

"This way," Pasthamon said. She waddled into the brush. The others followed, and it wasn't long before they emerged onto another trail. There was a stream on the far edge of the trail and another trail on the far side of the stream. Pasthamon rushed over and started drinking.

"Be careful," Tentomon warned, flying after her.

"These are edible right?" Levia asked as she held a leaf up to Izzy.

"Yeah," Izzy said after looking at the leaf.

Levia tore it in half and sniffed it. She made a face and said, "I remember this bush. It's the one that's perfectly safe unless the taste kills ya." She held her nose, at both of the leaf's halves, and began harvesting more off the bush.

"YAHH!" Pasthamon cried. Levia spun around just in time for Pasthamon to land fearfully in her arms. Her long neck let her pass Levia's shoulder and then turn to look over the other one. Tentomon hovered cautiously backward.

"What's that?" Levia asked. There was a Digimon emerging from the water. It was a serpent-like Digimon that was about ten feet long and looked a little burnt. It was green with a white underbelly. The front of its head ended in a slender beak-like snout. There were to horns atop its head and a wavy transparent blue fin down its back and on the tip of its tail.

"Limimon," Tentomon said, "He's a carnivorous sea dragon. If he looks familiar, it's cause he's the Rookie form of Seadramon."

"Do Limimon and Seadramon travel in schools?" Levia asked nervously.

"A Seadramon won't fit in that stream," Izzy pointed out.

"Good point," Levia acknowledged, "This one seems a little extra crispy."

Pasthamon bared her teeth and screeched at the creature. It screeched angrily back, surveyed its surroundings, and began to swim downstream.

"Well, its gone," Tentomon said.

"Help!"

"Huh?" everyone murmured as they turned their heads upstream. Running along the trail towards them was a robot of sorts. It was about four feet tall.

"Is that a robot or a Digimon?" Levia asked.

As Izzy readied his computer, Pasthamon said, "He's both. His name is Automon—he's a robotic Digimon and those limbs on the front of him can be used as arms or legs—whichever he needs most. That's all I know about him."

"He's a Data Champion," Izzy added.

"He seems to need help with something," Tentomon said.

"Help me, please!" Automon cried in his mechanical voice as he skidded to a stop in front of the group. There was a glass dome over his head that was held on with two rounded pieces of metal. Within the dome was a hard drive of sorts and a pair of small antennae. His torso was a rectangular prism with a two small green lights on his chest. He had arms and legs in the standard places, but there were two more arms on the lower part of his thorax which he had used while running. The extra hands had two claw-like fingers, while the normal two had three.

"What do you need?" Levia asked.

"My comrade is in extreme tribulation!" Automon moaned, "Despite my abilities, I was unable to help him. Do you think you may be able to help him?"

"I suppose we could try," Izzy said.

"What does 'tribation' mean?" Levia whispered to Pasthamon.

"Judiciary?" Pasthamon suggested.

"He's on trial?" Levia wondered.

"Oh, thank you," Automon said to Izzy, "Please follow me. I'll take you to our laboratory."

He turned and ran back the way he'd came. Izzy beckoned for the others to follow him and ran after Automon.

They soon arrived at a big mansion at the bottom of a cliff. There were two streams, one coming from each side of the mansion, that flowed into the first one. At the place where they joined, there was a hexagon-shaped wooden platform acting as a three-way bridge.

"Woah, nice place," Levia commented. 

Without hesitating, Automon ran across the bridge toward the house, and Izzy quickly followed. Levia, Pasthamon, and Tentomon rushed to catch up. Automon burst through the front door and went left through the door in the first room. The others looked surprised to see his friend.

It was the shape and size of a medium-sized dog. Presumably, that's what it was—save the fact it was made of metal. Its green glass eyes were unlit, and the metal plates that covered the top of its head had been removed. The absent metal, a few wires, several screws, and various tools were strewn around atop the table with the heap of metal that had once been a canine robot.

"That's your friend?" Izzy asked.

"Yes," Automon said urgently, "We were attacked by an evil Digimon, who injured him greatly. We drove the Digimon away, but not before my friend—his name is Canimon—was pushed into the stream. For the most part, the two of us are waterproof. But with some of Canimon's wires torn, an electrical surge went through the water, and he was offline after I pulled him out."

"You're abnormally smart, Izzy," Tentomon said.

"Yeah, you try to fix him," Levia said.

"But, I…" Izzy stammered nervously.

"Please," Automon begged, "No one else can help him, but you look pretty capable to me. At least with you he has a chance. Please try."

"I-I'll do my best," Izzy said uncertainly. He went over to the robot, picked it up, and inspected it.

"He looks like he'd be heavy," Levia said.

"It's about twenty pounds," Izzy said, "The heaviest part is the outer shell." He laid Canimon on his side and looked worryingly at the three gashes on the metal of his flank. There were torn wires within. He asked, "What Digimon did this?"

"Panthemon," Automon informed, "She's a feline Digimon with claws of steel."

"Hmm," Izzy thought. After looking over Canimon's lifeless form several, he said, "I think he just short-circuited. The power surge fried his wires. If the wires are replaced, he should be fine, but I don't know what to do if he needs a new hard drive."

"His hard drive is like his brain," Automon said, "If you got a new brain, you'd be a completely different person. If his hard drive is broken, he's dead and nothing will revive him. I have some spare wire, and anything else you need."

"Okay, let's see…" Izzy said, "We have to fix this injury first." There were several thin interlocking metal plates making up the Digimon's ears, neck, tail, and middle part of the torso to allow smooth realistic movement. For the next two hours, Levia, Pasthamon, Tentomon, and Automon watched him carefully separate each plate.

After the fiftieth sigh from the others, Automon said, "I understand that, for organic creatures such as yourselves, the mind works better with food and rest."

"Mmm-hmm," Pasthamon mumbled tiredly.

"Would you like something to eat?" Automon asked. Everyone's head instantly snapped up. Sensing their enthusiasm, he said, "This mansion is actually the inn I run, so there's plenty of room if you'd like to sleep for awhile."

"Thank you," Levia smiled.

***

"This sure was nice of Automon," Izzy said to Tentomon as he wiped his face with a washrag.

"Well, you _are_ helping to repair his friend," Tentomon said logically while aimlessly using his claw to make tiny splashes in the water that filled their bathtub.

"Yeah, but there's no proof that I can fix him," Izzy said.

"Well _I_ for one think you're perfectly capable," Tentomon said, "And I'm sure Levia and Pasthamon believe in your abilities as well."

"I…I suppose," Izzy said.

"I wonder how the others are doing without Izzy around to help them think?" Levia, who was on the other side of a wall, said to Pasthamon.

Pasthamon didn't answer. Rather she continued to do flips and somersaults in the water. Levia rolled her eyes and continued to scrub her soap-filled hair. A few seconds after Pasthamon started swimming in figure-eight's around the tub, her tail scraped the rim of the tub. She stopped swimming in response to Levia's angry groan.

"I _told_ you to be careful…" Levia grumbled angrily. She held her glasses up by one arm while the rest of them dangled, then dropped into the water.

"Oh…I'm really sorry, Levia," Pasthamon said sadly, "Maybe Izzy can fix your glasses."

"Yeah, but I wouldn't want to trouble him," Levia sighed and picked her glasses back up, "In the meantime…" She began to feel the rim of the tub where they had been and continued, "help my find one my contacts. It must have fallen into the water."

She moved closer to the rim, winced, gasped, and cringed.

"W-what's wrong?" Pasthamon asked.

"I found that contact," Levia said painfully and sat back. She clasped her hands over her right knee.

"Is it stuck on your knee?" Pasthamon asked. She squeaked as she saw something pinkish billow out lightly in the water. 

"I squished it and cut myself," Levia said, having recovered from the initial pain. She raised her knee out of the water and inspected her cut. She said, "It's just a little cut…. Can you help me avoid walking into anything until I can get my glasses fixed?"

"It's the least I can do," Pasthamon accepted.

Levia inserted her intact contact, got out of the tub, and put on a light pink bathrobe that had been hanging on the wall. Pasthamon followed her into a third room that was smaller and didn't have any tubs. It had a table with Izzy and Levia's newly-cleaned clothes folded neatly atop it. Levia took her clothes into their first room and changed.

"I'm just worried I'll do something wrong and screw him up," Izzy said.

"Screw…funny…" Tentomon said blandly.

"No pun intended," Izzy informed.

"Just remember that your Canimon's only chance," Tentomon said, "Without you, he has _no_ chance of seeing another day." 

"Yeah, but…" Izzy mumbled.

"Let's change the subject," Tentomon suggested, "Automon doesn't expect you to get back to work until tomorrow morning, so you should keep your mind off Canimon until then."

Okay," Izzy accepted. After a moment of silence, he asked, "Uh, just out of curiosity… are you and Pasthamon a couple or something?"

Tentomon seemed rather alarmed by the question. He snapped, "No!"

"Okay…."

"Okay, so she's kinda cute for a reptile…but that doesn't mean anything…."

Izzy laughed.

Later he sat on the edge of a bed near a lit desk lamp with Levia's glasses and a tiny screwdriver. He bent the arm of the glasses to make sure it was on right as Levia walked into the room. He sat the screwdriver on the nightstand and handed Levia her glasses.

"My hero," Levia said laughingly as she put her them on. She sat down and kissed him.

"I do my part," he said.

"You're wonderful," she said. She glanced at Tentomon and Pasthamon, who were asleep and curled up together at the foot of the bed. She said, "I wonder if they're, like, an item or something?"

"They're not," Izzy laughed, "I already asked. Tentomon seemed a bit unsettled by the question."

Levia sighed, sat her glasses on the nightstand, and scooted further back on the bed. She laid down and pulled Izzy with her.

"Good night, Koushiro," she whispered.

"Good night," Izzy said.

***

__

One year later

TK and Patamon, who wore a thin sky-blue chain around his neck, slipped quietly into the small house in the northwestern part of Primary Village. Patamon's chain had a sky-blue and lavender rounded-rectangular charm hanging from it. The charm had DigiCode carved into it. TK closed the door while keeping one hand behind his back. He looked down the hall and around the living room. Seeing no one, he opened the door to his right and took a step into the kitchen.

Kari, Gatomon, and four other Digimon turned to look at them. They had been surrounding the tray of cookies that Kari was holding. She used her foot to close the oven door.

"I told you he'd be popping in," said the dark-skinned five-foot-high Digimon to Gatomon's right. Her face had the vague shape of a canine and was partially covered by a pink veil. Her just-past-shoulder-length mauve-colored hair was partly hidden by the dark red cloth that was tied above her forehead. It had small white dots on it and two holes for her short floppy ears—each of which was pierced and held a gold hoop—to hang out. She had a ragged tan dress, a frayed grayish apron, and a pair of makeshift sandals. She jangled her bulky necklaces almost triumphantly.

"You make him sound like the plague or somethin'," said the short reddish-brown-furred Digimon that sat on the counter said. She was about Gatomon's size and shape and had long narrow pointed ears and big round black eyes. She had a curl of long fur hanging down in front of her face, and her tail was long, fluffy, and ended in a curl.

"We'll come back later," TK said.

"But can't we—?" Patamon began. He started to fly into the room, but TK used his unhidden hand to grab his tail and pull him back.

"We'll come back later," he repeated a bit more loudly.

"Okay, okay," Patamon said as he and TK left and closed the door.

"What's up with them?" Gatomon wondered. She had a chain with a charm like Patamon's, save that her charm had a small amethyst gem at the bottom.

The tall jewelry-covered Digimon placed her fingertips on her temples and closed her black eyes. She relieved herself of the pose and said, "They have something to ask…but TK has two somethings to ask."

"Really?" Kari asked, "Do you know what?"

"Yes…but I should leave it them to ask you two," the Digimon said to Kari and Gatomon.

"Uh, okay," Kari said.

"Sheesh, Oramon," said the red-brown Digimon, "For a Digimon whose prophesizing abilities are second to none, you sure are secretive about what you know. You may have everything from a crystal ball to a deck of trick cards, but sometimes I wonder how much you really know."

"Tykemon, you shouldn't be questioning anyone's future-seeing abilities," said Kari and Gatomon's third friend. From the waist up, she was human-like with a tan midriff to cover her essentials. Her long hair started dark brown and became white with black specks about two thirds of the way to her tips. The bottom part of her hair was a lighter brown. She had short pointed ears with the same color pattern poking out from beneath her hair higher up than human ears. From the waist down, she had the body of deer. She blinked her big blue eyes and said, "You're a wanna-be officer for the fashion police that lives for the moment."

"Don't forget that she can't fully understand the concept of secrecy," the forth one said, "She hasn't heard of something that's not worth saying." She was almost six feet tall and had ten or so tentacles for legs. Her skin was yellowish-green and rubbery. She had seaweed for hair and sea-foam-green eyes.

"Like you should be talking, Poseimon, you slimy…thing!" Tykemon shrieked.

"I'm not slimy," the fourth Digimon insisted as she rolled her eyes.

"And you, Roemon," Tykemon said to the half-deer Digimon, "should remember that, if I were the fashion police, you would have long since been arrested…not that you have much of a life anyway. You may be good with your bow, but your people skills are totally scanty."

Neither Roemon nor Poseimon seemed to be very hurt by her insults.

"You know that she's just shy," Kari said, "Now everyone stop arguing; we're all friends here. Help me with the next batch of cookies. Add the peanut butter chips to the cookie dough."

"Why are we making cookies again?" Tykemon asked as she took a back of peanut butter chips and poured some into the bowl of chocolate cookie mix.

"Because it's springtime," Kari said, "About seventy percent of DigiEggs hatch in spring."

"Those DigiBabies gotta eat somethin'," Poseimon said and stirred the dough.

"So you either help bake cookies, help mix baby formula," Gatomon said, "or help Elecmon pick dead fish out of the river."

Tykemon had been in the process of trying to sneak a baked cookie into her mouth. Right before she bit into it, she made a face at the third of her choices and sat it back on the tray.

"What's this batch?" Roemon asked as she scooped blotches of dough onto a clean cooking tray.

"Chocolate with peanut butter and chocolate chips," Kari said.

"Sounds great," Gatomon said.

After the next batch of cookies had been baked, Poseimon, Roemon, Tykemon, and Oramon had to leave. Kari changed in the bathroom and French-braided her hair. When she stepped out, she looked like she was ready for a karate class. She straightened her non-karate-like belt and went into the bedroom. TK rushed to put his hands behind his back. Patamon turned to look at her and flashed an innocent smile.

"Hey, don't you knock?" he asked.

"This is my room too," she reminded, "None of us have ever knocked before."

"Oh, yeah…."

T.K rolled his eyes.

"What's that?" Kari asked as Gatomon came into the room.

"What's what?" TK stammered.

"What are you hiding?" Kari questioned.

"I'm not hiding anything," T.K said.

"Oh, yeah, that's believable," Gatomon said sarcastically.

"Well, Patamon and I have something to ask you two," TK said as he sat down on the end of his bed, "As in me _and_ Patamon." He pulled the nervous looking Patamon closer to him.

"Ask away," Kari said, leaning casually against the wall.

"Um, Elecmon is trying to find a nice home for a couple of baby Digimons that need them," Patamon said.

"And I know a perfect home for one of those babies," TK said, "but we need the permission of all the residents of that home before he can move in."

Kari and Gatomon looked at them questioningly. Patamon and TK nodded at each other. TK stood and slid over to Kari's left. He held his hand out in front of her to show a fist-sized light-sky-blue ball of fuzz with black eyes.

"Isn't he cute?" TK asked, "Look at that face. Can't you tell he likes you already?"

As Gatomon climbed onto her shoulder to see the baby Digimon better, Kari asked, "Excuse me?" The fuzz ball showed no facial expression. 

"Come on, you two," TK begged, "He wants a place to call home—and what better home than with the two most beautiful, kindest, powerful-est females in the history of the DigiWorld?"

"Or the R—"

"Keep your paw out of your mouth, Patamon," TK interrupted.

"Oh, sorry."

Kari and Gatomon stared at the Digimon. Kari asked, "What is it?"

"Rumon," the others said in unison.

"But Rumon digivolves to Subjimon," Kari said.

"Yeah…" TK said, "So?"

"We don't need a butler," Kari pointed out.

"And it's crowded in this little house already," Gatomon said.

"It's not crowded; it's cozy," Patamon corrected, "We're all one big happy family."

"And little Rumon wants to be part of it too," TK said as he pulled everyone into a group hug and sat Rumon on Gatomon's head.

"I don't know…" Gatomon mumbled.

"Don't worry, Gato," Kari said and pounded her chest, "I have a wall in here. That little fuzzy-mon ain't gonna get to me." She smirked at Rumon, then frowned at it. She said, "Don't even give me that look." She snorted, crossed her arms, and turned her head away.

TK gave Patamon, who nodded, a quick hand gesture. He said to Kari, "Would you deny little Rumon the chance to grow up in your Light?"

"All of the babies in the village grow up in my Light," Kari said.

"I gotta figure out who told her that, and why," TK mumbled to himself.

"You told me that," Kari pointed out, "Last week, 'cause you were trying to suck- up then too."

"Oh," TK realized. He said, "But if we don't take in this little guy now, after he Digivolves and leaves the village, he'll wander the DigiWorld 'til he finds a master. And who knows who that'll be? What happened to the clemency that makes you glow? The compassion and sweetness that earned you the right to be called a queen? The heart that made you Queen Kari, the Child of Light, a gold-banded Lunatsu warrior, and the closest thing to an angel any living human has ever come to?"

Kari didn't respond.

"Queen Kari, you are burying your heart behind your wall," TK said almost poetically, "It may seem like nothing now, but that cursed wall is gonna get bigger. What'll happen if Rumon ends up serving Cifermon? Then the next time the dratted rabbit attacks the village, guess what royal compassionate woman might just end up with little Rumon's blood on her hands….

"I don't know about Gatomon, but I know you can't refuse Rumon, Kari," he continued, "You haven't had enough time for your heart to be eaten away. Because of that and the fact that you're headband is gold, you can't turn him away."

"What?" Kari questioned.

"Your headband is physical proof of you being an Elite Lunatsu warrior," TK said, "Lunatsu—the word in some really old language for 'moon will'—is a martial art of honor, courage, kindness, and having a mind like the moon. The gold-banded warriors are the most advanced. Because you have your gold headband, you _cannot_ disobey your honor. Because of who you are, you cannot disobey your heart.

"If you're gonna turn him away, you have to do it honorably. If you're the reason he can't stay, then _you're_ the one that has to tell him personally. He's on your other shoulder, on Gatomon. Just turn your head toward him, look him in the eye, and say, 'I don't want you; you can't stay here.' Do that, and I'll take him back to Elecmon. What do you say to that?"

"I say that the three of us and Rumon," Kari said, "should back away real slow and not make any sudden moves…."

"Oh, sorry," TK blushed, "I guess I got kinda carried away there…but it's true. Go ahead and tell him he can't stay."

Kari turned to Rumon and looked at his eyes, "I…."

"Be strong, Kari," Gatomon urged, "Remember: you have a wall. You are invincible."

"You…" Kari began.

TK leaned close to her ear and whispered, "Your wall is weakening…."

"You…c…."

"His fate is in your hands, your majesty," TK whispered.

"I don't w—"

"You're not looking at him," TK said.

Kari renewed her stare and said, "I don't w…I don't want…t-to say this…."

"And the wall comes crashing down!" TK cried triumphantly as Kari slumped in defeat.

"What about you, Gatomon?" Patamon asked.

"You have to do the same thing," TK said, "Turn him away yourself."

"But we don't need a servant," Gatomon insisted.

"Don't hate him for what he'll digivolve to," Patamon said, "So what if he'll do everything you say? He'll still be an equal member of our family."

"He's potty trained," TK said.

Gatomon didn't say any thing; she seemed to be in thought. She took Rumon off her head and looked at it. The reflection of a different tiny Digimon could almost be seen in her eyes.

The little green snow-covered Nyaramon.

"Gatomon?" TK asked, "A—?"

"Okay!" Gatomon screamed, glaring up at him with angry and teary eyes. She calmed down a little and said, "The little puff ball can stay…."

"Alright!" TK and Patamon cried. They gave each other a high-five.

"Welcome to our big happy family, Rumon," Patamon said cheerfully.

"Ru! Ru!" Rumon squeaked happily.

"Speaking of Lunatsu," Kari said, "We're late for practice."

TK squeaked and snatched a white outfit off his bed before running into the bathroom. Kari sighed and took her inch-wide gold headband out of her dresser.

A minute or so later, the big happy family was running, flying, or being carried down the streets of Primary Village. TK and Gatomon wore silver bands, and Patamon had a copper-colored collar. They skidded to a stop outside Aikimon's padded dojo. Kari calmly knocked on the doors. A gong sounded and they slid open.

The first thing they saw was a greenish-blue blur bouncing off the walls and swerving around the area full of about ten randomly placed vertical two-by-fours in the corner of the room. The blur slid to a stop on the mats a split second before the two-by-fours blew to splinters.

Kari, TK, Gatomon, and Patamon gaped at the round fist-sized Digimon. He had short arms and legs and a pair of fluffy white ear-like feathers atop his head. His face was lighter colored than the rest of him, and he had black eyes that reflected the hardness of an experienced warrior.

"Did he destroy that wood?" Patamon asked.

"If he keeps that up, Spritemon'll digivolve back to Mega in no time," TK said

The Digimon's black eyes flicked over to them. He said, "I am only a Champion. I have a long way to go before I am Piximon again."

"Children," Aikimon's voice came from the left, "You are late."

"Forgive us, sensei," Kari said as she turned to him and bowed, "We were having a family discussion." Aikimon and the others bowed.

"Spritemon," he said as the little Digimon walked up to the group, "You're session is over. Good day."

"Good day, Master," Spritemon said. He and the sensei bowed. He turned to Kari and the others and bowed to them before they bowed back. He left.

***

"If I were a…" Tai counted on his fingers and mumbled, "seventeen- or eighteen-year-old girl who'd been lost in the DigiWorld for eight years, where would I go?" He surveyed the trees almost desperately as the group passed them.

"Talking to yourself again, Tai?" Matt asked.

"Oh, put a sock in it," Tai insisted, "I'm on the brink of insanity; I can ask myself corny questions anytime I want."

"He's got the right to be insane for the same reason you do," Vanessa pointed out. After a moment of thought, she added, "So that's why you've been acting weird the last few years."

"That's not funny," Matt said, "I'm no weirder than the rest of you."

"You're right," Tai nodded, "At least about the 'that's not funny' part. We're missing the other six members of our group, and one of those six is my little sister…. Last time I saw her, she was nine-and-a-half, and she'd nearly bite off my head if I forgot to say the 'and a half' part…. But now she's seventeen, or maybe even eighteen. If I ever see my baby sister again, she won't be a baby anymore."

Matt looked a bit sad and guilty for bugging him. Vanessa sympathetically put her arm around his waist.

"You know she wasn't a baby last time you saw her," Sora said to Tai.

"Yeah, but she wasn't an adult either," Tai moaned, "She still had a year or two before she was a teenager."

"Cheer up," Sora said and kissed his cheek, "Life is always tougher when you're gloomy. Kari misses you too. Just because she's older doesn't mean she doesn't love you anymore."

Tai seemed surprised by what she said, but not much happier.

***

After their class, T.K, Kari, Gatomon, and Patamon walked back home. Rumon was sitting on TK's shoulder, and Patamon was sleeping on his head. TK and Gatomon seemed pooped as well, but Kari looked as fresh as a slightly sweaty daisy.

"Hey, TK?" Kari asked.

"Yeah?" TK mumbled.

"Oramon said you had two things to ask me," Kari said, "I guess one was about Rumon, but what was your other question?"

"Uh… I'll asked you later," TK said, looking nervous.

Kari looked at him strangely but said, "Okay."

TK looked relieved. Gatomon looked up. She hissed. The others followed her gaze. 

"Vilemon," Kari realized as she saw several black dots in the sky. After a horn sounded, she said, "The same flying monkeys used by Cifermon and Peidmon."

"They just don't give up," TK said, There were vertical pipes over the exterior wall of fluffy blocks around Primary Village. Big pink bubbles bubbled out of the pipes and formed a dome over the village.

"Gatomon digivolve to, Angewomon!"

"Patamon digivolve to… Angemon!"

The smaller Digimon fled the street while Angemon, Angewomon, and other strong Digimon spread out through the streets.

Angewomon floated out above the fountain in the center of the village. The Vilemon were hacking at the bubble dome, and something else was climbing up it. The bubble at the center of the dome popped.

"Celestial Arrow!" Angewomon called. Her arrow hit the Vilemon as it came through the hole. She tried to hit the orange tadpole-like Gizamon that dropped down, but she missed and hit another Vilemon. 

Kari shrieked as the Gizamon landed on her shoulder.

"Kari!" Angewomon cried. TK pried the Gizamon off her and pinned it under his foot.

"Are you okay, Kari?" he asked as she clutched her bloody shoulder and the shredded cloth covering it. She nodded. TK stomped on the Gizamon until it dissolved.

"Hand of Fate!" Angemon cried. Several Vilemon and Gizamon vanished as the tried to enter the dome.

"Inferno Cannon!"

"Cifermon?!" Kari demanded.

The rabbit's huge fireball blew a bigger hole in the bubble dome and knocked Angewomon into the fountain. She disappeared.

"Angewomon!" Kari cried.

"Salamon! Look out!" Angemon warned. He was distracted by her and mobbed by the attacking Digimon. Salamon tumbled out of the top basin and splashed into the next one right before a Vilemon would've gotten her.

"Salamon—!" she sputtered and coughed, "digivolve to… Nefertimon!"

"Nefertimon?" TK and Kari wondered.

"Nefertimon is an alternate Champion form of Salamon," Oramon said as she jogged up behind them. A bluish crystal ball appeared in her hand. She held it toward the advancing enemies, cried, "Revelation Fire!" and used it to shoot a blast of blue fire at them. She ran off in hopes of being useful elsewhere.

"Like Pegasusmon for Patamon," TK said.

Nefertimon was a half-wild-cat-half-human-like creature with a pair of large white wings. She stood on fours, her upper body was armored, and she had jeweled gauntlets the ended in green red-striped paws. Her cat-like ears and short hair looked like they were made of yellowish-beige stone. She had gold plating on her forehead and chin, with a snake sculpture on her forehead. Her skin was silvery. Her lips and pupil-less eyes were silvery purple. Her tail had purple stripes and Gatomon's green ring.

She roared, jumped out of the fountain, and shook herself dry. She glared with utter hatred at a similar Digimon that flew in from one of the holes in the dome. It looked almost exactly like Nefertimon, and the biggest difference was the color. The new Digimon head black fur where Nefertimon's fur was white. Her stone-like hair was a dull gray, and the front of it was long, curled down, and adhered to her jewel-less armor. Her dull-gray ears were more pointed, her skin seemed languid, and her eyes were bright red. She had the shredded black wings of a demon, and had the skull symbol of a virus Digimon in place of the jewels on hr gauntlets. She didn't have the green ring of her tail or the snake sculpture on her forehead, and her face carried an evil grin.

"What's that?" TK asked only a split second before Angemon landed on him.

"Oh, are you two okay?!" Kari cried.

"Uh-huh," TK said painfully. Angemon stumbled up and helped him stand.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

"Yeah," TK nodded and picked Rumon up. As Angemon took flight and rejoined the battle, TK spotted Tykemon and Spritemon running toward them. Nefertimon and her near-look-alike had already begun a violent aerial battle.

"What are those things?" Tykemon asked, looking at Nefertimon and the other Digimon. She turned to a nearby Gizamon that another Digimon was battling. She cried, "Yowling Beam! Arrooo!" and shot a white blast from her mouth that destroyed the Gizamon.

"One's Nefertimon," Kari said.

"Oh, I've heard o' her," Tykemon said.

"The other one is… Darknefertimon?" Spritemon wondered, "or Panthemon?" He brought out something that looked vaguely like a six-by-four-inch remote control and said, "I picked this little gizmo up the last time I was out travelling, which was about a month ago."

He handed it to T.K, who asked, "What is it? A cell phone?" 

"It's suppose to be a Digimon Analyzer," Spritemon said.

"I wonder if it's anything like the one Izzy has on his computer," Kari thought.

TK pushed the largest of black technical-looking buttons on top. The top half of the plastic plating of the device flipped open to reveal a small screen on its underside and the spot it was hiding. The first screen showed Nefertimon and her opponent ripping at each other with their claws. It zoomed in on the other Digimon as TK pushed another button. The screen froze the picture of her while the Digimon continued to fight. The word, "PANTHEMON" appeared at the top of the screen and the second screen lit up.

"Her name is Panthemon," TK read, "'She's sometimes called Darknefertimon because that's partially what she is. She digivolved from a Salamon with a computer virus.' She's a Virus-type Champion." A white feather floated down in front of his face. He looked up to she Angemon having trouble with the Vilemon. He cried, "Be careful, Angemon!" His symbol of Hope glowed.

"Angemon digivolve to… Magnaangemon!"

"Spritemon, we oughta get to the Hatching Grounds and see how Elecmon's doin,'" Tykemon said.

"Right," Spritemon said. TK gave him his Digimon Analyzer back, and they ran off. Kari spotted a Vilemon flying at her.

"Hiya!" she cried, startling TK, as she jumped and kicked it. It landed dizzily on the ground. Her shoulder was injured, but she used her good arm to pick up the creature and put it in a lethal headlock. It squirmed vainly until it ran out of oxygen, went limp, and dissolved.

"You've always been a weakling," Panthemon mocked as she and Nefertimon continued to battle.

"So have you," Nefertimon shot back, "but I got stronger when I stopped working with Myotismon. It's been a decade and you're still a dolt."

"Cifermon gives me power, fool!" Panthemon exclaimed, all the while slashing at her opponent.

"Kari gives me power," Nefertimon gloated, "and _I'm_ not a slave to her."

"You're a nincompoop," Panthemon insisted.

"Takes one to know one," Nefertimon said. Their battle stopped as she disappeared from sight.

"Where are you, Nefertimon?!" Panthemon demanded. She flew higher and surveyed the area.

"Knock, knock…."

She didn't feel like playing games, but for lack of a better response, she cautiously asked, "Who's there…?"

"Panther."

Panthemon looked up suspiciously, but saw the remainder of the pink bubbles. She asked, "Panther who?" And glanced down.

"'Panther' no 'panth,'" Nefertimon giggled as she somehow tackled her from above, "you're goin' swimmin'!"

Panthemon yowled as Nefertimon's tackle caused her to land heavily in the fountain. Nefertimon landed mockingly atop a nearby wall of giant toy building blocks.

"You're melting…! Melting…!" she jeered.

Panthemon grumbled as she took flight and shook the water off herself. She gave a loud roar. The attention of all the Vilemon and Gizamon seemed to shift to her.

"Get Nefertimon and Magnaangemon!" she ordered and quietly added, "'Cause I have bigger fish to fry and more important jobs to do…."

As the Vilemon and Gizamon regrouped on the two Digimon, Panthemon observed the area. Most of Primary Village's defenders were knocked out and banged up. They were most likely alive, but they were most definitely unimportant. Her eyes stirred to TK and Kari. 

Kari was getting beat up pretty bad by the few Digimon that bothered to attack them after Panthemon's order, but she did a fair job of defending herself with her Lunatsu moves. TK was warding them off with what had been a randomly discarded piece of plywood. Rumon was still on TK's shoulder, but he was crying his eyes out.

Panthemon roared and rushed at them.

"Run!" Magnaangemon cried.

TK took his advice, tossed away the plywood, got a better grip on Rumon, grabbed Kari's arm, and bolted.

"Where are we running to?" Kari demanded.

"Anywhere that she's less likely to rip us up," TK said.

"But I…" Kari insisted, "I can take her…really!"

"Yeah," TK said, "When pigs fly… and Patamon's a hamster, not a pig."

"She's not as tough as she looks," Kari protested as they turned between the back walls of some small houses and a wall of giant toy blocks.

"When Tarzan wrestled lions in those old movies," TK said, "They were _really_ exaggerating his strength."

"Why," Kari demanded as they tuned sharply between two houses, "won't you let me try?!"

Panthemon flew past where they'd turned and had to turn back as they turned again. TK said, "You haven't figured out yet?!"

"Nope!"

"Well, duh, it's 'cause I love you!"

Kari visibly softened. She said, "Only you can sound angry and mushy at the same time…!"

"Curse of the Queen!" Panthemon yelled. A shadow-like blob missed TK and Kari's heels by inches. They turned by another street.

"Ya know, if you're question was important," Kari gasped, "you might want to ask me now… just in case you don't get a chance later…."

"Uh…" TK said nervously as they turned again, "I think… that I'd rather wait some more…."

"Suit yourself," Kari accepted.

"Curse of the Queen!" 

Again, the attack missed them by inches.

"Then again," TK squeaked, "Uh, I…I, um…. I planned this a _lot_ differently…." They turned again. They were getting closer to where they'd started.

"It's okay," Kari said sweetly yet tiredly, "You know you can always ask me anything."

He blushed upon her smile. His hand slid from her forearm to her hand. He sighed and tried to think as they ran.

"Curse of the Queen!"

"Will you marry me, Tenshi?" he blurted.

"What?!" Kari demanded. As Panthemon's attack hit the ground, it sent a small rock flying. The rock hit Kari in the back of the head. She wasn't hurt badly, but she lost her footing and fell to her knees.

"Are you alright?" TK kneeled by her as Panthemon cast a shadow over them. Vilemon dropped Nyaramon and Tokomon in their laps.

"Sorry," they moaned.

"We're out of energy," Tokomon squeaked.

"Yeah, I…" Kari mumbled to TK. Her eyes widened and she smiled slightly, "The Light…."

"Huh?" TK asked.

"I haven't even hit you yet," Panthemon said, "Don't you think it's a little early to be going into the light?"

Kari seemed to be looking at and trying to touch the sunlight that twinkled in front of her face. The symbol of the Crest of Light glowed on her chest. She began to glow white. TK and their Digimon looked at the bright light easily, but it made the evil Digimon cringe.

Tokomon and Nyaramon went through several digivolving stages so fast that their words slurred together. Pegasusmon and Angewomon took flight as Kari went limp.

"Magi-Blast!" Spritemon cried as he jumped up and hit Panthemon with a star-shaped disk that was thrown like a boomerang.

"Yowling Beam! Arrooo!" Tykemon cried after getting up.

"Cyclone Siphon!" Poseimon hit the enemies with water.

"Lunar Chop!" Aikimon karate-chopped the Gizamon.

"Eminent Shot!" Roemon said as she used the glowing bow and arrow that appeared in her hands.

"Revelation Fire!" Oramon called.

"Thunder Strike!" Elecmon cried.

"King of Beasts!"

"Avian Strike!"

"BUBBLE BLOW!" cried the fifty or so In-training Digimon in the village.

Panthemon used the last of her strength to stay in flight and pushed the remaining Vilemon in front of her.

"Heaven's…" Angewomon began, "Charm!"

The attackers were blown to digi-dust, but Panthemon managed to escape through the shattered remains of the dome. After another horn sounded, the Digimon began to cheer.

"Hail Queen Kari!" they cried. Angewomon and Pegasusmon de-digivolved to Gatomon and Patamon.

"Is she okay?" Gatomon asked TK He was still kneeling by Kari and holding her up.

"Yeah," he said, "She just fainted…like last time."

***

"Come on, Tentomon, lighten up. Can't ya take a joke?"

"I can take jokes just fine," Tentomon grumbled, trying to removing the mud from his wings, "Muddy jokes, on the other, are a different story."

"Yeah, Canimon," Pasthamon said, "You wouldn't want to get all muddy, would you? You're easier to wash off anyway."

"Yeah, good point," the metal canine said, "Sorry, Tentomon."

"It's okay," Tentomon said, "Or at least it will be once I get this mud off."

"Water Blast!" Pasthamon cried. Her blast of water knocked Tentomon onto the ground on the far side of the mud puddle he'd fallen in and washed away the mud that coated him.

"Gee, thanks," Tentomon muttered.

Pasthamon laughed and asked, "Hey, you guys want to play water tag?"

"Uh," Canimon mumbled uneasily, "Let's play regular tag instead."

"Okay," Pasthamon accepted.

"Wow," Levia said. She was sitting in a lawn chair on the patio of Automon's inn with a glass of punch. She looked at Canimon, Tentomon, and Pasthamon run around closer to the river. Izzy, who sat next to her, looked up from his laptop quizzically.

"Wow what?" he asked.

"Even if you're sick of me saying so," Levia told him, "every time I see Canimon playing around with the other Digimon, I can't help but think that he wouldn't be here if it weren't for you…."

"Levia…" he sighed.

"You saved his life, Koushiro," she said, "and nothing you say will stop me from thinking you're amazing."

"Aw, cut it out…" he mumbled modestly and blushed.

Levia pushed her chair closer and hugged him.

***

Kari's eyes fluttered open and looked around. Rumon was on her forehead and looking at her eyes. She was in her bed. Gatomon and Patamon were curled up together on her left. TK was sitting in a chair to the right of the bed and had his head on the edge of her pillow.

She smiled, then looked sad. She quickly wiped away some tears. TK woke up as she kissed him.

"Yes, Koibito," she said. After seeing TK's confused look, she said, "I'll marry you."

"Wow." He beamed and hugged her, "I love you, Tenshi."

"Ru! Ru! RU!" Rumon squeaked, sensing the happiness of the moment.

"If you say that five times fast, you'll sound like a fire engine," Gatomon mumbled as she woke up.

Patamon looked up and saw TK and Kari hugging and Rumon bouncing happily on the pillow. He asked, "Why is everybody so perky?"

"Did you ever get his second question?" Gatomon asked as she stretched.

"Yep," Kari grinned.

"Really?" Patamon demanded, "What'd ya say, what'd ya say?!"

"She said yes," TK said.

"Hey, cool! Congratulations!" Patamon said, "Aren't you happy, Gato?"

"What was the question?" Gatomon asked.

"We're getting married," Kari explained.

"Oh, wow! The _big_ question!" Gatomon exclaimed happily as she hugged Kari and T.K, "Congratulations!" She looked at the charm that hung from her neck and smiled at Patamon.

***

__

Two months later.

"Do you honor this pendant and its powers?" Elecmon asked, "Do you acknowledge the respect, honor, justice, commitment, and love that it and its counterpart symbolize? Do you swear to hold it always as a key to one another's soul?"

"Yes," TK and Kari said in unison as they slipped a pendant similar to Gatomon and Patamon's over each other's heads. He took her hands in his. 

They were assembled among their friends in the prairie in the northern parts of Primary Village, and they wore less-than-tradition wedding attire, by the Real World's standards. TK's suit was definitely not what you'd call a tuxedo, though it was similar. Kari wore a semi-fancy white gown with pinkish lace at the collar. She had a pair of lavender veil-like ornaments in her hair that hung fancily from round gold clips. Elecmon turned to TK

"Do you take her to be your lawfully, tangibly, and spiritually wedded wife? To have and to hold—in sickness or in health, in richness or destitution, in war or peace? To love, honor, and care for until far past death do you part?"

"I do," T.K said humbly. Elecmon asked Kari similar questions.

"I do," Kari answered.

Elecmon held up and six-inch-long smooth white feather. He said, "Hold out your right hands."

They held their right hands out next to each other at chest height. 

"To be equals; to be a single being, yet individuals; to be deified and blessed by your bestowed gift; to be a two hearts that beat in unison until far beyond the death of time itself," Elecmon said. 

He made four quick movements with the hand that held the feather. The sharpened quill left a cross shape in the palm of TK and Kari's right hand. They didn't cringe or wince as the cuts were made or as blood oozed out of them.

"For honor and Hope," Elecmon began. He swept the downy tip of the feather across TK's cuts, making it bloody, and said, "and for love and Light…" before sweeping the cleaner side of Kari's cuts, "you share your heart as the other's blood runs through your veins…." He swept the opposite sides of the feather over their cuts again. He said, "By the power invested in me by data, the Village, the sky, and an angel's feather…."

He threw the feather upward. It went unnaturally high for a feather, glowed, exploded, and showered TK and Kari in soft bloodless bits of down.

"…I now pronounce you Takeru and Hikari Takaishi, human and wife…" Elecmon said, "You may now kiss the bride."

"Wow, so happy," Patamon whispered to Gatomon and Rumon as he used a camera to take a picture of TK and Kari kissing, "My eyes are so teary, I can't even see what I'm taking pictures of."

"That why I'm video-taping," Gatomon whispered. She turned her head to see past her video camera and said, "I know they wanted Tai, Matt, and the others here, but they know that the rest of the gang wouldn't want their lack of presence make them upset."

***

__

One month later.

"And you can kiss…!" Mimi sang, "Kiss this—and I don't mean on my rosy red lips. 'Cause me and you; we're through; and there's only one thing left for you to do! Just come on over here one last time; pucker up and close your eyes…and kiss this… goodbye!"

The crowd cheered as the curtain lower and Mimi bowed. Joe came over to her from backstage and started to say something, but she practically collapsed on him before he got the chance.

"Imagine, if you will," she said, "trying to sing and dance in front of a bunch of Digimon with a watermelon strapped to your stomach."

"You did a good job anyway, Hon,'" Joe offered, "You're remarkable. Are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah," Mimi mumbled, still using him for balance. Instead of one of her usual oddly stylish outfits, she wore a long dark blue dress, sandals, and the traditional wedding pendant. The pendant was dark blue and turquoise, and the dress was baggy enough for her to be comfortable with her round augmented belly.

"That's good," Joe said, "I love you, Mimi." His hair was more neatly kept than it had been when he was younger, and he had new glasses. He had more professional looking clothes, including a white shirt, blue blazer, and khaki pants.

"Do you _really_ think I can handle being a mother _and_ a music star?" Mimi asked hopefully.

"As your doctor, I say yes because you and the baby are very healthy; you just have to take it easy for a while," Joe answered. "As your manager, I say yes because you are a terrific singer, and no miracle of birth will change that. As your husband, I say yes because I believe in you."

"You're sweet," Mimi said.

"Maybe you should take maternity leave for a while," Joe suggested. Seeing Mimi's pained look, he said, "Mimi, you're seven-and-a-half months along; I'm sure you don't want to go into labor or have a contraction in the middle of your show."

"Yeah, sure," Mimi said, "No more shows after what's scheduled until I get back on my feet."

"Ya know, that DigiEgg we found?" Gomamon asked Palmon, behind Joe and Mimi, "It sure is taking its time about hatching…. I'm wondering if it's real."

"We'll see in due time," Palmon said, "Not all DigiEggs are cooperative with the 'just rub them gently' rule."

"Yeah…" Gomamon said. Seeing Mimi's upset expression, he offered, "Don't worry, Mimi Your adoring fans won't _quite_ keel over and die if you go on a vacation for a while."

"Hope you recover soon," said Gekomon, who was behind them with a small guitar.

"We'll still rehearse, right?" Numemon asked from his seat at the drum set.

"We'll rehearse even if she can't sing with us," Otamamon said, randomly playing a few notes on his keyboard.

"I _will _sing with you," Mimi said almost defensively.

"Even if she can't dance," Palmon added. She aimlessly twirled her recorder in one hand. Mimi groaned.

***

__

Soon… I'll rip them apart. Light Creatures are miserable without their offspring…almost as miserable as me….

__

Six months later.

"Are you going to publish that?" Tentomon asked Izzy, who slipped on a pair of glasses and continued typing at his laptop.

"If it's worth it," Izzy answered. He leaned back in his chair.

"What's it called?" Levia asked.

"Robotics: The Key to Efficiency," Izzy answered, "Unless I decide on a better title."

"Is it about how efficient robots are?" Pasthamon asked, "If so, you can't get a better title."

"Hello?" someone called.

Levia dashed to the lowest section of the service counter in the room as two Tsunomon and a Punimon bounced through the front door of the inn. As she spoke to them, Tentomon asked Izzy, "Do you think those portable Digimon Analyzers you made were helpful to people?"

"Probably," Izzy said, "I hope the others get a hold of some of those."

"They'd certainly be very useful," Tentomon agreed, "Speaking of the others, isn't it time for our daily rounds?"

"Yeah," Izzy nodded.

"Let us know if you need room service," Levia said as a Tsunomon handed her some money in exchange for a key, "Otherwise, lunch is in about an hour and a half."

"Thank you," the Digimon said.

"We're going searching again," Izzy called to Levia.

"Okay, be careful," she said.

"Don't worry," Izzy said.

"Good luck," Pasthamon said.

Minutes later, Kabuterimon flew over the forests surrounding Automon's inn. Izzy gripped his helmet-like carapace with one hand and held up a set of binoculars with the other. He held the binoculars down and let go of Kabuterimon just long enough to pull his Digivice out of his lab coat pocket and look at it. He sighed, seeing no signal, and returned to his previous position.

"Any preferred direction?" Kabuterimon asked.

Izzy considered a moment. He sighed again and shouted, "West."

"Gotcha," Kabuterimon said. He turned away from the late-morning sun.

Izzy continued his role in the search. He murmured to himself so quietly that he could barely hear himself over the buzzing sounds of his Digimon's wings, "The others have to be on File Island. They wouldn't leave unless the group was together. It doesn't make sense…. When we first came to the DigiWorld, we had no clue of what we were doing, and the island was split to pieces… and yet we still found our ways back together.

"But now the island is whole, we have a lot of experience, and our Digimon are strong… but after eight years—eight whole years—we're still lost. How…?" They approached the coast, so he called, "Follow the shoreline a while."

***

"Toy Town," Matt released as he, Tai, Sora, Vanessa, and their Digimon gazed beyond the treetops to the tips of the castle-like towers.

"Maybe Monzeamon's still there," Sora said, "He might know where the others are."

"Maybe," Tai said.

"Won't hurt to check," Vanessa said optimistically.

"Mmm-hmm," Tai mumbled. He stood straighter and more assertively said, "Let's go," before taking the lead. The others made no attempt to copy his falsely-energetic strides as they trailed wearily along behind him.

A few minutes later, they stood in an intersection of the cobbled roads of Toy Town. A small army of wind-up toy soldiers marched past them.

"This place is weird," Vanessa mumbled as she watched them pass.

"Monzeamon?" Biyomon called loudly.

"Are you here, Monzeamon?" Agumon called.

A toy fire engine drove in front of them, parked, made a few pinging noises, and began to drive down the street before them. Picamon looked at it questioningly.

"Even if Monzeamon isn't around, I'm sure there's another Digimon around to run this place," Gabumon pointed out.

The fire truck began to drive backward until it was in front of them again. It repeated its previous actions.

"Maybe we should follow this little truck," Picamon suggested.

The truck pinged loudly.

"Wouldn't hurt to try," Agumon said. Tai started of after the truck, and the others followed.

Sure enough, they followed the truck to a workshop and found Monzeamon there. He had been repairing one of those 'Techno' robotic dogs. He stop what he was doing and hugged them all at once.

"How have you all been?! It's great to see you! You so look different!" he said.

"Time will do that to you," Matt gasped under the force of the bear's hug.

"When was the last time you saw any of the other DigiDestined?" Tai asked.

Monzeamon sat them down and thought. He said, "The time Togemon freed me from that Black Gear."

"Man, that was ages ago," Sora said.

"Mmm-hmm," Monzeamon agreed. 

They began a five-hour-long conversation starting with the Dark Master, then how they'd been while in the Real World. A question about the Techno continued the conversation about Monzeamon's toy repairing and how he needed some workers to help him. The mention of salaries shifted to talking about DigiDollars versus Yen and US dollars. It was then that everyone realized Vanessa and Picamon had not been introduced. After the introduction, nobody remembered where the conversation had been, so it went back to the toy-repair business.

As if everyone's stomachs had gotten together and planned the whole thing, they all growled unison. Monzeamon seemed a bit surprised.

"You all look like you haven't eaten in months!" he said, "Come have some soup."

Over the greedily eaten soup, the conversation went back to the toy-repair business.

"Are the eight of you unemployed?" Monzeamon asked.

Apparently no one had realized that they were, in fact, unemployed adults. They said, "Yes," is unison. Monzeamon smiled.

***

__

6 months later…

"'Listen; can you here the sound?'" Mimi sang, "Hearts beating; All the world around? Down in the valleys; Or out on the plains; Everywhere in the DigiWorld; A heart beat sounds the same.

"'Black or white, pink or crimson; It's the heart of each dear Digimon; Oh-oh, beatin' away; Oh-oh, beatin' away; Oh-oh-oh, beatin' away.'

"'Listen; Can you hear the sound? Laughter; All the world around? Up in a mountain; Or down in the sea; Everywhere in the DigiWorld; Laughter sounds the same to me.'

"'Black or white, pink or crimson; It's the sound of each dear Digimon; Oh-oh, laughin' away; Oh-oh, laughin' away; Oh-oh-oh, laughin' away.'

"'Ooh, la, la, la, la, la; Ooh, la, la, la, la, la; Ooh, la, la, la, la, la; LA…………O-o-o-oh…. Ooh, la, la, la, la, la; Ooh, la, la, la, la, la; Ooh, la, la, la, la, la; LA…………O-o-o-oh….'

"'Listen; Can you hear the sound? Singing; All the world around? Out in the desert; Or by signs for a street; Everywhere in the DigiWorld; Singing always sounds so sweet.'

"'Black or white, pink or crimson; It's the voice of each dear Digimon; Oh-oh, singin' away; Oh-oh, singin' away; Oh-oh-oh, singin' away…; Oh-oh, beatin' away; Oh-oh, laughin' away; Oh-oh-oh, singin' away.'"

As Mimi's voice and the music faded away after a four-second long note on the last syllable of "away," Joe applauded quietly. The little blue-haired girl in his lap applauded just because he was. A tiny black Digimon that sat atop her head bounced up and down enthusiastically to make up for the lack of hands.

Mimi gasped for breath and slumped wearily. She forced a smile toward her three fans before walking over to them. Gomamon, Palmon, Numemon, Otamamon, and Gekomon sat their instruments down and went about ordinary business.

"Bibu! Bibu, bibu!" the little black Digimon squeaked. She looked a lot like Yokomon' baby level: tiny, black, and having the appearance of a plant seed with a tiny seedling sticking out upward. It also had, however, tiny little fins and a tail to make it look like a fish. She apparently began bouncing a bit too hard.

"Gah!" the little girl squealed. She reached up and smacked the baby off her head.

"WAHHH!" wailed the baby after landing unharmed on the floor.

"Kasandora," Mimi reprimanded, "Bad girl! You have to be nice to Bibumon. She's almost like your twin sister. She hatched just a few seconds after you were born. Be nice and give Bibumon a hug." She picked Bibumon, who then stopped her wailing, up off the floor and handed her to Kasandora. Kasandora hugged the little Digimon.

"There ya go," Joe said, "Good girl."

Mimi smiled.

"I got a call this morning," Joe said to Mimi, "You interested in Vegimon's Diner? The pay's good."

"Sounds good to me," Mimi said.

"I have a big list of places further off that want you to perform there," Joe said, "How would you like to go on tour? For about a year? Starting six months from now."

Mimi blinked for a few seconds. She stammered, "T-tour…? Oh, wow! I'd _love_ to go on tour! We might finally find our friends! Where to?"

"There's…" Joe pulled out a notepad and read it, "The Koromon Village, Analytical City, and Machi City on Server. Then there's Glaci Village, Dossier Town, and Gizaville in the Arctic North. Then there's the Kittimon Village, the Yokomon Village, and Primary Village here on File Island."

"Great!" Mimi said, "I can't wait!"

"Well, while you're struggling to wait," Joe said, "Work on "Listen." You seemed a bit off pitch…."

Mimi groaned and trudged back to her microphone. As her band assembled, Joe put Kasandora with Bibumon in a nearby stroller.

"Ya know, Mimi," Palmon said, "You _did_ seem awfully off-pitch. Maybe you're just having a bad day."

"Do some vocal scales," Joe suggested, "I'll get you something to drink."

"Thanks," Mimi said. After Joe left and Otamamon gave her the first note of the keyboard, she sang, "Do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti, do…do, ti, la, sol, fa, mi, re, do…."

"You _are_ having a bad day," Numemon said.

"You were flat coming down," Gekomon informed.

Mimi sighed and started over.

"Do?" Kasandora wondered from the stroller, "Rrrr…."

"Bibu?" Bibumon questioned.

"Mi," Kasandora voiced.

"Bibu! Bibu!" Bibumon said excitedly.

***

__

6 months later…

"I-I can't believe it…" Kari stammered, her eyes full of joyful tears, "I'm…I'm a mommy… I can't believe it!" She was sitting up in bed and smiling at the baby in her arm. TK was sitting next to her with his arm around her shoulders.

"He's cute!" Patamon said cheerfully as he flew over the baby's head.

"What'd you say his name is?" Gatomon asked. She sat on the bed near Kari's waist. She was leaning forward on a DigiEgg. It was white with yellow and pink horizontal stripes.

"Hikeru," Kari answered softly.

"Your tea, madam," a Subjimon with lavender spots and bright blue said quietly as he entered the room with a cup of hot tea. Kari handed the baby to TK and took the cup.

"Thank you Subjimon," she said, "but please don't call me madam."

Subjimon started to say something, but stopped. He hesitated and sat on the edge of the bed. Kari smiled and thought, _He was probably about to say, 'Yes, ma'am,' or something._

Gatomon suddenly squeaked and jumped so high she nearly hit her head on the ceiling. She landed back on the bed and relaxed and she looked at the wiggling egg.

"It's…hatching," Patamon said, astonished.

"'Bout time," said Gatomon.

POOF! When the pink dust cleared, there was a tiny pink Digimon where the egg had been. It was round and a little smaller than a person's fist. It had small triangular ears, black eyes, and a tiny black nose. It probably had a mouth, but that wasn't visible.

"Taki!" the baby squeaked. It jumped at Gatomon.

"Hey!" Gatomon protested before she realized it was only jumping into her arms.

"Taki! Taki!" the baby cooed.

"Takimon?" Gatomon wondered. She smiled.

"Why do I get a feeling we're going to adopt another kid?" TK whispered goodheartedly to Kari. She just smiled.

"Hello, Takimon," Patamon said to the Digimon after Gatomon set him down. He sounded more caring than he usually did when aquatinting himself with newborns. Takimon attempted to hug Patamon and then started to wander around and become familiar with the others in the room.

Hikeru giggled as Takimon hopped up onto him.

"Taki!" Takimon said.

"Wow, they're friends already," TK said. He glanced at Kari, expecting her to comment. Yet she just nodded, smiled warmly, and sipped her tea. Her eyelids were drooping; she was probably still tired.

TK kissed the top off her and brushed her hair out of her face.

***

__

1 year later…

"Gabumon digivolve to… Garurumon!"

Matt jumped up onto Garurumon's back. Vanessa handed him a box and a piece of paper. He said, "Stop giving me that look like you're never gonna see me again. I'm just gonna drop these toys off at the Kittimon Village. I'll be right back."

"Are you sure that map's reliable?" Vanessa asked.

"Who made it?"

"Sora, Picamon, and Monzeamon."

"Then it's fine," Matt insisted.

"We have to go," Garurumon insisted.

"Say hi to my friends for me," Picamon requested.

"Okay," Matt said, "Bye, Vanessa."

"Hey, be careful!" Vanessa cried as Garurumon ran off.

"Don't worry," Picamon said, "He'll be fine. He should be back by tonight."

***

"Hold still!" Izzy snapped at the horse-like thing he was fighting with. It stopped its struggling abruptly. It was a robotic version of a Digimon, a unicorn with short flightless wings. Izzy continued stretching the furry pink cloth over the robot's chain-mail-like plating. The cloth had long thin gold strings hanging near the zipper, so it looked like a golden mane. The mane was shorter along its spine, it had had a tail that nearly touched the ground. The pink "fur" along the back of the bottom half of all four legs was a bit longer and hid the zippers well.

The robot made a nickering sound as Izzy stepped back to check out the alignment of the thing's fur. The horn was steel-colored instead of white, and it's mane was messy. Otherwise, it looked perfect.

"Levia!" Izzy called.

"Just a minute!" Levia called. She came in, followed by Tentomon and a short non-realistic wheeled robot that had busboy hat and a tray of sandwiches. She walked through the room full of tables that were piled high with metal, wires, and blueprints.

"What do you think," Izzy asked.

"Wow. Is that it?" Levia asked, "It looks just like a real Pengamon."

"That's it," Izzy said as Pasthamon came in.

"Looks nice," she commented, "Which one is it?"

"RPM3000C," Izzy said.

"You'll give fur to A and B too?" Tentomon asked. Izzy nodded.

"But she's so cute," Levia protested, "Can't you give her a cuter name? She's got to have a nickname. You're going to get tired of saying, 'RPM3000C,' every time you give her orders."

"It'll respond to 3C," Izzy said defensively.

"No matter what the nickname is, robots—even cute robots—need robotic names," Tentomon said, "Unless they're Digimon."

"If you don't say it like it's a number and a letter," Levia said, "Thresee _is_ a cute name. Don't you think so, Thresee?" She stroked the robot's nose. It nickered.

"Hmm…" Izzy wondered.

"'Hmm' what?" Tentomon asked as Thresee rubbed her head affectionately against Levia's lab coat.

"It seems a bit different than the other 3000's," Izzy said, "It's acting more emotional. I may have made an error in its programming."

"You call stronger artificial emotions and error?" Tentomon asked.

"Yes, but only because it wasn't intentional," Izzy said, "As long as there are no other problems, I'll keep it the way it is."

"I hope you don't have to reprogram her," Levia said, "She's perfect just the way she is now."

Izzy sighed, "See, this is why I didn't want to give her a personalized name. Once you name something, you get attached to it. If something happens to it now, you going to be upset."

"Izzy, you're more robotic than your busboys," Levia said. She started to gesture toward the robot in the busboy hat, but it had already set its tray down and left the room.

Izzy stiffened and said, "I'm just being practical."

"I'll take her out and get some food," Levia said.

"Uh," Izzy said quickly.

"What? Isn't that what she's for?" Levia asked, "Transportation?"

"But I don't know how disrupt her programming is," Izzy said, "I don't know how reliable she is."

"You put tracers on them all, don't you?" Levia asked, "I'll take Pasthamon with me. None of us will get lost."

"But she might be dangerous," Izzy insisted, putting his hand on her shoulder, "You know that I don't want you to get hurt."

"I thought you didn't like to get all mushy while you're at work…."

Izzy sighed, exasperated, and said, "You can go if you take the Sparrow."

"Fine, change the subject," Levia said, just to annoy him. She accepted, "I'll take your little flying camera if you want. See ya."

Izzy sighed and said, "Bye."

***

"Hello, everyone," TK said as he and Patamon entered the kitchen. He ruffled Hikeru's brown hair. The baby was sitting in a highchair near the table while eating some cookies. TK turned toward Kari, Gatomon, and Roemon and immediately had something square-shaped and the size of a small cookie shoved into his mouth.

"We're perfecting a new pie," Kari informed, "What do you think?"

"Ish guh," TK mumbled. Seeing that this wasn't very understandable, he gave the thumbs up sign.

Kari smiled, "That's good…. It's good to see you." She kissed his cheek and hugged him. He swallowed the pie fragment and started to say something. He was cut off by the emergency alarm.

"Trouble," Gatomon said.

"Subjimon, watch the kids," Kari ordered. She dash out of the kitchen, followed by everyone but Subjimon, Hikeru, and Takimon.

A few minutes later everyone rushed out of the quaint-looking little house and saw a huge pack of Gizamon. They were attacking a frightened-looking huddle of Tanemon.

"Gatomon digivolve to…Angewomon!"

"Patamon digivolve to Angemon!"

The angels took flight as a group of Limimon appeared from around a building. They were only Rookies but they had sharp fangs and high numbers.

Something recently added to TK and Kari's belongings were swords, which were often sheathed at their waists. TK pulled his sword out, and Kari started to until she heard Leomon's voice from down the street.

"Kari! We need you on defense!"

TK stood protectively in front of her as Kari's hand left her sword hilt and she closed her eyes and pictured things…. Hikeru playing with Takimon or giggling as she lifted him up, Gatomon and Takimon bouncing playfully around the living room and making a mess, or her and TK spending time together. Her Crest glowed pink as the rest of her became white. A pair of glowing wings sprouted smoothly from her shoulder blades, and the glowing stopped.

TK stood out of her way and gave her a nod of encouragement. She gave her wings some flightless test flaps and folded them around her shoulders before running out to provide some help to her fellow Primary Villagers.

"Eminent Shot!" Roemon shouted, shooting a nearby Gizamon. 

Despite the hundred or so evil Digimon that had invaded the village, the battle was over very quickly with few casualties for the villagers. Leomon, Spritemon, Remogremon, Roemon, Poseimon, Oramon, Reptimon, Aikimon, Angemon, Angewomon, TK, and Kari were the village's best fighters. Kari couldn't fight with her wings, but she could used a lot of energy by flying with them. She could shield Digimon as well, while she helped them get to the hospital.

After the fight Gatomon, Patamon, TK, Remogremon, and Reptimon went up to Kari after the battle. She was on her hands and knees in the street. Her wings had faded away and she was breathing hard.

"Are you okay, Kari?" TK asked, kneeling next to her.

She nodded and smiled.

"You did a good job today," Reptimon said cheerfully. He was a three-to-four-foot-long green boa-like snake. He had four short legs, small claws, yellow-green diamonds along his back, and big friendly blue eyes.

"Not a fatal wound at all," Remogremon said. He looked a lot like Ogremon, having Digivolved from him. He looked like a very large, fairly handsome, green-skinned human. He still had long white hair, spikes, and a club.

"That's good," Kari said, "'Cause I'm…" she yawned, "…tired…."

"Let's call it a day then, Tenshi," TK said. He lifted his tired wife into his arms and carried her back to their house.

He set her in a chair at the table and gave her some coffee. He sat quietly as the others came in.

"Is somebody hiding something?" Kari asked, noticing everyone's silence.

"No," TK said, "We're not hiding anything, we just haven't put forth the effort of letting you see it yet."

"What's up, Koibito?" she asked.

TK moved his chair closer to hers and began stroking her hair. He said, "Elecmon wants Patamon and me to go run an errand for him. Pick something up from the Yokomon Village and Toy Town."

"So?" Kari asked.

"Is that it?" Gatomon asked, "I was expecting some big news."

"Uh…" Patamon said, "We're picking up too much for us to carry. We'd have to go with a cart."

Kari spit out her coffee in surprise.

"What?!" Gatomon demanded as Kari coughed.

"A cart?!" Kari cried, "A cart, as in a four-wheeled piece of junk made of wood that's too big to fly with? That has to be pulled and moves slowly?"

"Yeah…that's it," TK said.

"So…how long would this trip take you?" Kari asked silkily.

"About a day and a half," TK said.

"One way…" Patamon specified.

__

***Earth Date: 3 years AA***

***DigiDate: 14 years AA***

(AA = After Apocalymon)

M'nai's sharp brown eyes watch the screen in front of her from beneath the hood of her cloak. The golden Digimon was draped across her shoulders asleep. It hadn't been hard to fall asleep there since M'nai had leaned against the control panel and had remained perfectly still for a long time. She stood up, dumping the startled Digimon onto the floor.

"Can't you warn me _before_ you come out of one of your statue phases?" the Digimon said irritably.

M'nai lifted a tiny inch-high copper hourglass off the metal shelf near the screen. The silver sand had nearly filled the bottom half, but only one grain dropped every two minutes or so. 

"We're running out of time," she said, "We have six more days." She turned the hourglass upside down, but the next grain of sand fell upward, so she righted it and sat it back on the shelf.

"Six kids have to be born in six days?" the Digimon asked, "Is that possible?"

"Not for humans," M'nai said, "It takes nine months."

"So…we have a problem?" the Digmon concluded.

"Not quite," M'nai said, "Do you now how some baby Digimon are born, Flaxemon?"

"They all come from DigiEggs," the Digimon said, "but some DigiEggs are formed from the Love of two Digimon. Wasn't that how the five new Digimon were being born?"

"Mmm-hmm," M'nai nodded, "It takes copies of their genetic code, so the child is biologically theirs." She turned toward Flaxemon with a slight grin, "But it works on humans too, doesn't it?"

"I have no idea," Flaxemon answered.

"It has to," answered M'nai. She turned back to the screen. It showed TK and Kari arguing about the trip to Yokomon Village and Toy Town. Gatomon and Patamon were sitting nearby, looking disgruntled, while Subjimon cleaned the coffee of the table and Hikeru and Takimon obliviously ate cookies.

"They're fine, aren't they?" Flaxemon asked. M'nai nodded.

The screen flipped to show Mimi dancing with Kasandora, who was two years old now, while Bibumon bounced up and down on a drum.

"Fine," M'nai mumbled.

The screen changed to show Tai and Sora walking in the streets of Toy Town holding hands. Sora laughed as Tai made a joke about something. M'nai clicked on each of them, pushing a series of buttons on the keyboard. Two windows popped up in the corner, each with a red cloud-like thing faintly resembling the Crest of Love. More buttons were pushed. The windows and the cloudy things merged together, forming a reddish-gold egg. The same thing happened with Agumon and Biyomon, forming a pinkish-orange egg with hearts and suns on it.

The cloudy things—Love—for Matt and Vanessa formed a blue-green egg. Picamon and Gabumon's egg was yellow with green diamonds and blue Friendship-shapes.

Izzy and Levia's Love formed an egg of a purplish color. Tentomon and Pasthamon, who'd long since gotten over their denial of caring for each other, had a light blue egg with darker stripes.

M'nai pushed a few more buttons. The screen switched to the Hatching Grounds. The six eggs landed on the cushions. One of M'nai's eyes narrowed in annoyance.

"The humans' ones are bigger," Flaxemon said, stating the obvious.

"No matter," M'nai said, "To Elecmon, children are children, and children come from eggs. They'll be fine."

***

__

The next afternoon…

"Hey, Pegasusmon?" TK asked, "Do you have any suggestions as to what to write?"

"Hmm," Pegasusmon said from his position at the front of the cart he was pulling, "Tell her we walked."

"I did," TK said. He impatiently tapped his pencil against the pad of paper he was holding. He was wearing a white and gold cloak over his white Primary Village Council uniform.

"What do you have so far?"

"'Dear Kari and Gatomon,'" TK read, "'How are you? The weather is fine and we're moving quickly. Today we walked and then we walked. After that we walked some more. How was you day? Tell Subjimon and the kids we said 'hi.''"

"Close it," Pegasusmon said.

"Fine," TK shrugged and wrote, "'See you soon, TK and Pegasusmon.'"

***

__

One day later…

TK and Patamon were in the grass to the side of the dirt trail they'd been on. They were underneath the cart. The area was cramped, but not that difficult to be in, seeing that the rain was pouring.

"'We'll be two days late,'" TK said as he wrote.

"This is about a day-long delay," Patamon said.

"But it's always nice to have things turn out to be not quite as bad as you expected them to be."

"So you're lying?"

"Mmm-hmm."

"Oh, well."

***

__

One day later…

"What are the boxes for?" Matt asked as he stuffed a bunch of teddy bears inside them. He was in a store room with Tai and Monzeamon.

"I'm sending the toys to Primary Village where there are kids to play with them," Monzeamon said, "We have to pack everything quickly. We need to have ten boxes full in thirty minutes."

"We already have three boxes," Tai said.

Thirty minutes later, one of the Bukamon that worked at Toy Town turned upon a salutation from someone behind him.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"I'm supposed to pick something up for Primary Village," TK said, standing next to Pegasusmon.

"Oh, I'll take you to the stuff," Bukamon said. As they went through the cobbled streets, they passed a Tanemon and Nyaromon.

"Ooh, who are they?" the Nyaromon asked.

"I don't know," Tanemon said. She drooped and moaned, "but they're married!"

"Here it is," Bukamon said, once arriving before the building, "I'll go get Monzeamon." He hovered into the building.

"Why don't you take a rest?" TK said to Pegasusmon.

He de-digivolved and said, "I wonder if they'll mind me taking a look inside." He flew inside and the first thing he saw was Gabumon at a bench sewing up a teddy bear. He stuttered, "G-Gabumon?"

"Yes?" Gabumon asked, looking up. He looked surprised.

"M-M-Matt's G-Gabumon?"

"Uh-huh…" mumbled Gabumon, looking awed.

"Boom Bubble! Pwah!"

Gabumon leaped out of the way of Patamon's Boom Bubble. He shouted, "Patamon!" and thought, _There have been previous times where good Digimon were turned evil. Is that why Patamon's attacking me? He looks awfully mad._ He yelled, "Blue Blaster! Hah!"

"Pwah!" spat Patamon. His Boom Bubble dissolved the Blue Blaster and added another splotch on the wallpaper.

"Gabumon!" someone yelled as they ran in sensing trouble, "Pepper Breath! Poy!"

"Spiral Twister!"

"Sparkle Blast!"

"Pwah! Pwah! Pwah!" The bubbles blocked the attacks easily.

"Hey, what's going on in here?!" TK demanded, rushing through the door. Monzeamon, Bukamon, Vanessa, and Sora came through the other door.

"ELEVEN YEARS!" Patamon screamed to Picamon, Biyomon, Agumon, and Gabumon, who were cornered in the edged of the room, "ELEVEN _WHOLE_ YEARS! YOU WEREN'T AT THE KOROMON VILLAGE! YOU WEREN'T AT THE KITTIMON VILLAGE! YOU WEREN'T AT THE YOKOMON VILLAGE! AND _YOU_ TRAVEL SO MUCH, WHO **KNOWS** WHERE _YOU_ WERE?! But ME?! I'm _always_ in the same place! Primary Village! But did you visit me?! Did you call me?! Email me?! Send me a letter?! Give me _anything_ to even _suggest_ that you're even _still alive_?! NO! YOU DIDN'T! WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU MORONS?! I outta _rip you to shreds_! Or maybe blast some holes into your thick sculls so that those little rotted pea-sized over-dense cobweb-covered ROCKS that morons use as brains can get some oxygen!

"But I won't! Ya know why?! 'Cause I _missed you_!" These last words were whiney as Patamon hugged Gabumon.

"Did I miss something?" TK asked.

"TK?" Sora demanded, "Is that you?!"

TK turned to her. He blinked several times. He stuttered, "S-Sora? Vanessa? I am TK."

After a moment of silence, the girls rushed forward. Sora cried, "Oh, TK! It's great to see you again!"

"You bet!" Vanessa cried as they hugged him.

"Oh, last time we saw you, you were so little!" Sora said as they pulled away. 

"But now you're taller than us," Vanessa said. After a moment of consideration, she added, "And you're cuter than Matt!"

"Matt?" TK asked, "Is he here? And the others?"

"Just us, Matt, and Tai," Sora said, "Come on! Ya gotta see 'em!" 

"So why _didn't_ you visit me?" Patamon asked irritably after the girls dragged TK out of the room. He took flight.

"Uh… I forget where you lived," Gabumon said.

Patamon moaned in disbelief and fell to the floor.

***

__

One day later…

TK and his old friends decided that they'd all go back to Primary Village, but TK was flooded by a tidal wave of questions which he promised to answer on the way. The others didn't mind riding in the back of the cart in front of the boxes.

"Do you know where Kari is?" was the most commonly repeated question, asked by Tai obviously.

"What have you been doing all these years?" Matt asked.

"How'd you make a living?" Sora asked.

"How'd you get the fancy clothes?" Vanessa asked.

"Are any of the others in Primary Village?"

"Has Cifermon been bugging you?"

"Have you been eating okay?"

"Do you take care of baby Digimon?"

"Why are you picking this stuff up?"

"What's in the boxes from Yokomon Village?"

"Does anyone know where you are?"

"Wait a minute! Only ten questions at a time!" TK protested, "Yes, teaching and fighting, teaching, Kari and her friends sew, just Kari, yes, yes, yes, Elecmon asked me to, I think it's baby formula, and Kari and Elecmon have the basic idea…. I think I got those in the right order."

"You _do_ know where Kari is?!" Tai asked excitedly.

"Well he _should_ know where she is!" Picamon said laughingly, having climbed up into the front seat next to TK, "After all, according to the pendant he's wearing, he's married to her."

TK's face reddened and he closed his hand shyly over his wedding charm as seven pairs eyes widened in surprise.

"Um, yeah," he stammered. There was an odd moment of silence in which he looked at Pegasusmon and thought, _Can't you move any faster, you sorry excuse for an equine animal?!_

He wondered if he'd said it out loud when Pegasusmon turned his head and looked at him questioningly. The steed's wing-like ears twitched.

"Uh, congratulations," Sora said, breaking the silence. Vanessa nodded,

"You're married?" Matt asked in disbelief.

"To my sister?" Tai demanded.

"Um, yeah," TK repeated nervously.

"You know," Tai said, mostly to Matt, "eleven years ago I knew they liked each other. But I said to myself, 'They're still little kids, they're not even dating yet. I'll wait another year or so before I scare TK witless with the keep-your-hands-off-my-sister talk.'"

TK was pulled by his hair to a position where he was leaning backwards and couldn't avoid eye-contact with Tai, who said, "But I assume you did anyway, right? Being the intelligent, trustworthy, _still-living_, person that you are…."

"Uh…. No comment," TK said.

Tai sighed, sounding angry, and let go of TK's hair. TK sat back in his seat and concentrated on the road until a large purple pelican-like Digimon landed next to him.

"Package?" the Digimon asked.

"Here," TK said. He pulled an envelope out of his cloak and handed it to the Digimon. The Digimon stuffed it in the bottom half of his beak with more mail and started to fly off. TK called, "Oh, wait! I forgot to finish addressing it!"

"Does it have your wife's name on it?" the Digimon called down.

"Yeah, but—"

"It'll get there, trust me!"

"Do you hear something?" Pegasusmon asked, slowing slightly.

TK listened for a moment, "Nothing out of the ordinary. Why?"

Pegasusmon stopped completely and listened. He said, "Give me a moment," and unfastened himself from the cart.

"Hey!" TK shouted as Pegasusmon ran off into a nearby stand of trees, "Where do ya think you're going without me!"

"Stay there! I'll be right back!"

"Jeez," TK muttered, "If he has to go to the bathroom he could just say so…."

"Moro-o-o-o-o-o-oh!" something bellowed after a few minutes.

"What was that?" Sora demanded.

"I don't know, but I've heard it before," TK said.

"Same here," Tai said. Matt and Sora nodded. They all waited for several minutes.

__

Pegasusmon… TK thought, _What's wrong with you, going off by yourself? Come on, get back here…._

The sound of galloping hooves approached.

"Oh, here he comes," Vanessa said.

"That's eight hooves," TK said.

"Wha kind of Digimon has eight hooves?" Matt asked.

TK shook his head, "He's being followed. He's running fast and…."

He trailed off as Pegasusmon bust into view yelling, "TK! TK! Look who I found!" Another horse, a pink one, followed right behind him. The two steeds skidded to a stop, revealing the rider of the Pengamon.

"Levia?!" Sora demanded.

"Hi everyone!" Levia beamed. Pasthamon was in her lap. A small silver sparrow-like thing began circling her head. She raised her hand and smacked it away with little thought and went back to greeting everyone in a smiley manner.

***

__

One day later…

"Bo, bo, bo!" Kari sang into a metal pipe just large enough to roll a baseball inside of it. She smiled at the Botamon inside.

"Bo, b-bo, bo, bo!" sand Botamon.

"Bo, b-bo, bo, bo!" mimicked Kari. She smiled, giggled, and hopped back a step. Botamon wiggled forward a few inches and continued singing. Kari copied him and hopped back again.

"I thought she was supposed to be getting him out of there," Tykemon said to Remogremon, who held the pipe at Kari's chest level, Gatomon, Reptimon, and Elecmon.

"She's got some kinda plan going," Gatomon said.

She mimicked the Botamon several times, always jumping back a few inches. The Botamon wiggled forward in response, and he accidentally left the pipe which he'd tried so hard to hide in. She caught him, giggling, "I caught you! I caught you! Now come play with us, cutie!"

"Bota!" Botamon squeaked cheerfully, his bad mood having been erased because he didn't object or hold a grudge from the fact he was tricked.

"C'mon!" Kari said. Her wings glistened in the sunlight as she jogged over to Hikeru, Takimon, and the other baby Digimon. 

She placed Botamon among the others and tossed a large red ball into the air. Some of the babies grouped together and bounced up underneath it. It was knocked back up, and it landed by Hikeru. It bounce and knocked him down when he tried to grab it. He made a face and started giggling. Kari caught the ball when it bounced passed him and helped him up off the cushioned ground.

"Hey, Takimon," she beckoned.

"Taki?" the little pink Digimon asked as he came over. Kari knelt down next to him.

She quickly tapped him, jumped back, and giggled, "You're it!"

"Taki!" Takimon exclaimed as the group of baby Digimon erupted into chaos. He squeaked and jumped, tackling a Poyomon.

"Poyo!" Poyomon whooped. He tagged another Digimon. After several Digimon were It, Hikeru was tagged.

"Who's it?" Kari called among the mob of babies. She felt a tiny hand press against the back of her leg. She looked down to see her son.

"Mama!" he said.

"Oh, I'm it, huh?" she asked cheerfully, "You sneaked up on me! Yes, you did!" He giggled as she got on her knees and tickled him.

"Bo-Bo-ta!" a Botamon called to her.

She stood up and called, "Who wants to play BUBBLES?!"

The babies stopped bouncing all over and bounced excitedly in place. They began exhaling little bubbles. Kari laughed and pulled her wings close to her and concentrated. She quickly expanded her glowing wings as far as they'd go, and hundreds of bubbles burst from them. She giggled with the baby Digimon as they sprang all over the place. The air contained so many bubbles that she had to wave them away from her face to breathe.

"Oh!" she squeaked as one baby Digimon bumped her from behind and knocked her over. She landed on her back and bounced a few times. She laughed as Hikeru waddled over and landed on her belly. Takimon landed on his head. Suddenly, all the baby Digimon piled on top of them.

All but Kari's wingtips were invisible beneath the heap. She forced her hand out and mumbled loudly. Someone grabbed her hand and pulled her up. The babies spilled off her, but she was left holding Hikeru, Takimon, and a few other babies that had managed to cling to her.

"Oh, thanks, I—" she stopped and gaped at the person who'd helped her up. Her wings glimmered green for a moment. They changed to purple, then silver, then back to white, as she noticed the people behind the other person.

The first person's big red-brown eyes blinked uncertainly, "Kari?"

"Who are you?" Kari asked.

"Mimi."

"…Mimi!" Kari hugged her old friend and nearly knocked her over.

"It's great to see you!" Mimi cried, "It's been so long, and you've grown up so much! You're so pretty, I love your earrings, where'd you get them?" She fingered Kari's earrings, which were a trio of white feathers hanging from a small pearl.

"I made 'em myself," Kari said, "Angels molt too."

"Angel feathers, huh?" Mimi asked; she moved aside and said, "Say hi to Joe and Izzy!"

"Hey, guys!" Kari exclaimed. She sat Hikeru down and hugged them both at once as her wings flickered turquoise. She asked, "Who's that?"

"Who's who?" asked Joe.

Kari looked around until she spotted Kasandora behind Mimi. Her short blue hair was in a ponytail, and she was wearing a pink dress. She smiled, and said, "How cute!"

***

It was later that night after Kari had managed to talk everyone into going to bed. Gatomon's purring had lulled Takimon to sleep, and Subjimon had been tired enough to conk out right away. Yet Hikeru was still restless, and Kari couldn't go to bed with him awake.

With her wings out as she cradled her child in her arms, she paced the side of the bedroom. Her wings dimly lit the room as she sang softly and rocked Hikeru to sleep, "When darkness is all around you; And you don't know what to do. Don't fear 'cause even when I'm not here; I'll be there for you. Please don't live within a shadow; It's brighter in the sun; You're hero's famous for his work; But I'm sure he had a lot of fun. You can feel my heart; You can feel my Light. 'Cause their inside of you. Shining so bright. My love will keep you safe and sound; Even though I may not be around; For I'd do anything for you; I love you.

"A sing man with Courage; Makes the majority. Goodness is Light that lights the world; So everyone can see. Love is the very breath of life; More than a diamond makes a man and wife. Integrity is part of virtue too; Respect'll make your heart true too. Persistence is to keep going on; Even if your trail is all uphill. Knowledge is but power; Intelligence comes from strong will. Sincerity remembers; Who your real friends are. Reliability, do what you need to do; Even if you gotta go far. You never want your heart to harden; Friendship makes your life go far. Hope's the most important of them all. It lets you believe and wish upon a star. You can feel my heart; You can feel my Light. 'Cause their inside of you. Shining so bright. My love will keep you safe and sound; Even though I may not be around; For I'd do anything for you; I love you… I love you, Hikeru…."

Now that the baby was asleep, she kissed him and laid down with him. She didn't notice her wings momentarily flicker a light reddish-gold color.

***

TK, Tai, Matt, Sora, Vanessa, Levia, and their Digimon reached Primary Village that night. A voice came from the little booth near the only entrance to the city.

"Who's there?"

"Just us, Tykemon," Pegasusmon said.

"Oh, hi, guys," Tykemon said, "I thought you weren't gonna be back 'til tomorrow."

"Eh," Pegasusmon shrugged, "How have Kari and Gatomon been the last four days?"

"They're okay," Tykemon answered, "Gatomon more so. Today they were great 'cause some of you guy's friends dropped by. They're probably tired though."

"Who?" TK asked.

"I don't know," Tykemon admitted, "Kari introduced them to me, but I don't remember their names."

"Were they Koushiro—or Izzy—and Tentomon?" Levia asked. She swatted the little bird-like robot out of the way again.

Tykemon's ears perked as she noticed the others and asked, "Who's that?"

"Another old friend," TK answered, "These are Levia, Pasthamon, Matt, Gabumon, Tai, Agumon, Sora, Biyomon, Vanessa, and Picamon. Everyone, this is Tykemon."

"Hi," Tykemon said, "I think Izzy and Tentomon were two of them."

"Two of them?"

"There were four humans and four Digimon."

Tai counted in his mind, "There's the six of us, plus Kari and Izzy. Assuming the other two were Mimi and Joe, that's all ten. Who else?"

"I don't know," Tykemon said, "But you might want to let them all sleep since they've had such a long day."

"We'll keep that in mind," TK said, "We gotta go, bye."

"See ya tomorrow," Tykemon said as Pegasusmon pulled the cart off. They stopped near Elecmon's house to leave the cart and walked to TK's.

"Nice place," Tai said.

Patamon sighed and said, "I remember the good ol' days when we didn't have to lock the doors…" as TK fumbled with a ring of keys.

"You do?" he asked. He finally stuck the key in the keyhole, but the door opened.

"Hi, Koushi-chan," Levia said.

"Hi…" Izzy said, "um…everyone."

After everyone quietly reacquainted themselves with Izzy, they finally went inside.

"Why are you sleeping on the couch?" TK asked, "We have a guestroom."

"Joe, Mimi, their daughter, Gomamon, Palmon, and their daughter have the guestroom," Izzy said, "How do you fit six people in one bed?"

TK shrugged and said, "I don't know, but we managed seven. Is everyone asleep?"

"I think so. They're all in bed," Izzy gestured toward Tentomon sleeping on the back of the couch. 

"Joe and Mimi have a kid?" Sora asked.

"Yeah," Izzy nodded, "So—"

"I'll go see if Kari's awake," TK interrupted. Tai and Patamon followed him down the hall.

"If she's asleep," Tai said, "I won't mind waiting until tomorrow to see her. It's been eleven years; what's a few more hours?"

"Good point since Tykemon said she had a long day," TK said. He opened the door and whispered, "Tenshi? Are you awake?"

There was no response. Kari was asleep on her belly with one arm tucked under her. Her other arm held Hikeru close to her, and her wings were folded above her. Takimon nestled up against Gatomon, and Subjimon was curled up at the foot of the bed.

"Who's Tenshi?" Tai asked. He looked over TK's shoulder. He said, "So you weren't joking about her having wings."

"Nope," TK said, blushing a bit from Tai's question, "but she usually retracts them when she's indoors."

He started to close the door when Hikeru's eyes fluttered open. He opened them fully, sat up, extended his arms, and yelled, "DADDY!" at the top of his lungs.

"Shh!" TK gestured urgently, but it was too late.

"TAKI- TAKI- TAKI- TAKI!" Takimon shouted as he began rocketing excitedly around the room like some giant whacked-out pinball. A white blur arched from the bed, ricocheted of the wall following Takimon, and ended up going out the door. Gatomon landed in the hallway, her paws trapping the panicked Takimon.

Subjimon whipped his head up so fast he fell off the bed. Kari got onto her hands and knees and stared intently at the door as she waited for her eyes to adjust. She blinked, grinned, jumped off the bed, and ran into TK's arms.

"Koibito, you're home, you're okay," she mumbled. She wrapped her wings around him and made light purring sounds.

"Yeah, but," TK said.

"How did everything go? You weren't attacked, were you?"

"No, but—"

"Did you see Mimi, Joe, and Izzy?"

"Just Izzy, but—"

"What about Levia?"

"I found her too, but—"

"How's Patamon?"

"He's great, but—"

"That's good," Kari said, hugging him tighter.

"Yeah, but," TK paused, expecting her to interrupt again. When she only rubbed her head against his chest, he said, "Guess who else I found."

"Monzeamon?"

"Him too," TK said, "But I found your brother."

It took a few a few seconds for this to sink in.

"What?!" Kari demanded. She looked over TK's shoulder and blinked at Tai in disbelief. He seemed frozen in place. He nervously mouthed the word, "Hi," but no sound came out. She ran and threw her arms around his neck, knocking him into the wall.

"Kari," Tai whispered, his eyes filled with tears, "I was afraid I'd never see you again… I…."

"It's okay," Kari answered, "We're together again." She closed her eyes and her wings flickered different colors. She said, "We're all together! And that stupid rabbit won't break us apart!"

***

"Well, some of us won't be getting any sleep for a long time," Kari said as she poured twenty cups of coffee for the humans and Digimon crammed around the dining table, "We'll be up all night, and I have to work tomorrow."

"What do you do?" Tai asked. He was holding Hikeru, who was gulping down a bottle of milk. Tai looked rather uncertain about what he was doing.

"I bake, mostly."

"Mostly?"

"I sew, too. And teach."

"What do you teach?"

"Whatever TK teaches when he can't, and Lunatsu. Plus other types of battle training."

"You? The motherly winged person with the unusually perfect suburban life?" Matt asked, "A _combat_ instructor?"

Kari giggled lightly at the humor and blushed.

"Don't feel bad," TK said, "Even _I_ still have trouble believing it. Wait 'til ya see her at work…."

"Oh, sure, encourage them to give me an audience…" Kari said dryly.

"You mean add to the audience you already have?"

"What ever," Kari said, "You guys can shoo off those little Digimon."

"What little Digimon are those?" Levia asked.

"The ones that are totally awed to see the angel that taught them nursery rhymes beat the stuffing out of a punching bag," TK laughed.

"What do you teach?" Matt asked him.

"Primary school. Ya know, the equivalent of kindergarten through third grade."

Matt nodded. He said, "Beats my job. We repair toys."

"Izzy's got it good; he builds robots," Levia complimented.

Izzy blushed as everyone who hadn't already heard this information turned to look at him. Mimi, who cradled the now-sleeping Kasandora, asked, "How'd you get that job anyway?"

Izzy explained what had happened with Canimon and repeatedly blushed at Levia's endless supply of compliments.

"So I basically have the equivalent of a Ph.D.," Izzy said, "Not that it matters in this type of war though."

"It makes running a hotel easier," Tentomon piped up.

"Yeah, imagine being twenty-one robotic busboys less," Pasthamon said.

"Where's Thresee?" Izzy asked.

"She's out front," Levia said, grinning.

"What?" Izzy asked, noticing her grin.

"You called her Thresee, like it's a name not a number."

"Yeah, only because hearing you do it so much made me make a habit of it," Izzy said irritably, "I still don't think you should have named her. She's just a machine."

"But she's a good enough machine to be worth being called 'she' by you," Levia responded mockingly. She giggled at Izzy's visible frustration. She ruffled his hair affectionately, but pushed his head forward enough for him to need to hold his glasses on.

__

Oh, we're together again! Kari thought with utter happiness as she watched Izzy and Levia's argument turn into sappy stuff, _And nothing will **ever** tear us apart!_

***

"Come on, Kari!" TK cried as his wife ran toward him, her battle suit fitting her graceful flight-like movement perfectly. Her foot landed in his intertwined hands, and her jumped out of his kneeling position, propelling her upward. She landed on the back of one of ten-or-so large bat-like Digimon that filled the air above the village. She wrapped her arms tightly around its neck and squeezed hard. It flew erratically in an attempt to shake her off. It slammed its back against a wall, but only ricocheted off the cousins and smacked face first into another wall.

"Hand of Fate!" Angemon cried. His attack hit about four of the evil Digimon. Two of them dissolved, and the other two were severely weakened. This suggested that they were low-level Ultimates.

"Nova Blast!" Greymon roared, destroying one of the weakened bats.

"Freeze Beam!" Mermaimon shouted. She froze a strong bat with her attack. The ice-sculpture fell to the ground, where it was destroyed by Kabuterimon's Electro Shocker.

"Meteor Wing!" Birdramon called. She destroyed a weak bat and weakened two strong ones.

"Flower Cannon!" Lillymon destroyed a bat.

TK cut at a low-flying bat. Her bat having been reconfigured, Kari landed expertly next to him. Soon, all the bats were gone and the Digimon de-digivolved.

"Well, that was easy," Matt commented as the group congregated in the streets of the village.

"Almost too easy," TK thought. He dismissed it with a shrug and said, "It must be because you guys are here. Right, Kari?" He turned to see her with her head bowed and whispered, "Never mind."

"What's she doing?" Tai asked.

"I have no idea, but she's been doing for seven years now," TK said, "I've learned it's best to not interrupt her."

Kari's head came up as she gasped.

"Something wrong, Tenshi?" TK asked.

"Uh, I…no," Kari stammered.

TK looked at her worriedly but turned back to the others.

"Hey, TK! Kari!" Elecmon cried as he ran up.

"Elecmon!" TK called, "Did you see the other DigiDestined within the last decade?" After Elecmon reacquainted himself with everyone, TK asked, "Did you have something to say?"

"Oh, yeah," Elecmon said, "There are a couple of really big eggs on the Hatching Grounds, and I figured it was interesting enough to let you know."

"Didn't Kari and I already hear this?" Gatomon asked.

"I didn't," Kari said.

"You weren't paying attention," Elecmon rolled his eyes.

"Big DigiEggs, huh?" Mimi asked, "I'd hate to meet the digital chicken that laid them."

"Mommy!" 

Everyone's attention was turned to Hikeru as he waddled out of the house. Subjimon was instructing Kasandora to stay put while he went after him, but she was through the door the moment his paws left her. Takimon and Bibumon began creating deliberate chaos for the fun of it.

"Go inside, you guys!" Kari called. She walked over to Hikeru, pointed firmly at the house, and gave an motherly-authoritative look. He stuck out his bottom lip and tried to look cute, but his mother didn't relent, so he turned and walked back to the house. Takimon sighed squeakily and followed. Seeing that their playmates had been defeated, Bibumon and Kasandora went in as well.

Thirty minutes later, Primary Villagers had reoccupied the open areas and the kids were allow outside. The DigiDestined still stood together, thinking of the battle.

"Are there a lot of fights like that?" Vanessa asked.

"Yeah," Kari said, "Usually they're harder though."

"Hmm," Izzy nodded.

__

So strange that there were only ten attackers, even at Ultimate, Kari thought, _Cifermon's attacks are usually once a day with at least twenty soldiers and—_"They'll attack again!"

"What?" every demanded, the conversation having shifted to a topic concerning Primary Village's bakery. After all, cookies don't fight.

"Cifermon will attack again," Kari specified.

"He always attacks again," TK said.

"No! He'll attack again _today_!" Kari stressed.

TK thought for a second, then said, "Tell Leomon!"

Kari started to turn toward Leomon's house, but froze upon hearing, "Inferno Cannon!" The DigiDestined scattered as the blast hit the ground where they'd been standing and blew them off their feet.

"Gatomon…!"

"Patamon…!"

"Agumon…!"

"Gabumon…!"

"Biyomon…!"

"Picamon…!"

"Tentomon…!"

"Pasthamon…!"

"Gomamon…!"

"Palmon…!"

"…digivolve to…!"

"Angewomon!"

"Angemon!"

"Greymon!"

"Garurumon!"

"Birdramon!"

"Zappermon!"

"Kabuterimon!"

"Manteemon!"

"Ikkakumon!"

"Togemon!"

"Inferno Cannon!" Cifermon cried, coming to a stop atop the fountain in the center of the village. His fireball hit Angewomon in the wing. Her flight faltered, but she flew back up safely.

"Spread out! Don't give him an easy target!" Tai yelled to the many Digimon that were helping fight as about forty bat Digimon filled the air.

The defenders looked confused until Kari yelled, "Do what he says!"

"Fist of the Beast King!" Leomon yelled, but Cifermon ducked the blow, laughing.

"Tsunami Whirl!" Manteemon roared. Her blast of water was easily avoided by Cifermon's strong jumping ability.

"Rapid Blast!" Cifermon laughed. He rapidly emitted several slightly weaker versions of his standard attack in all directions. Soon all the Champion and Rookie Villagers were out of the battle. The DigiDestined's Digimon de-digivolved save the Ultimate Angewomon.

"Crush that rabies-holding vermin, Angewomon!" Kari shouted.

"Pummel Whack!" Remogremon yelled.

"Fist of the Beast King!" Leomon roared.

"Revelation Fire!" Oramon shouted.

"Celestial Arrow!" cried Angewomon.

"Heehee!" Cifermon laughed, dodging easily, "Is that your best? Rogumon! GO!"

The bat-like creatures—presumably Rogumon—charged. Cifermon chuckled as eight or more of them tackled each defending Digimon.

"Shi_ne_!" Kari yelled, charging at Cifermon with a sword. He grinned and fired at her with his Inferno Cannon. She was guarded from the worst of it by her Crest of Light, but she was still knocked back over by TK.

"Kari!" Tai called.

"She's okay!" TK reassured.

"Flashback Syndrome!" Cifermon yelled. Suddenly all the DigiDestined were glowing faintly black. The glow stopped after a moment, and the rabbit Digimon cracked up laughing. He said, "That's my best attack! You'll see why in about thirty seconds or so!"

They heard a high-pitched incoherent yell, and everyone turned that direction. Kari yelled, "Hikeru!"

"No," TK moaned.

"How cute," Cifermon said, noticing the baby as well, "But we can't have any competition now can we? Inferno Cannon!"

"No!" Kari cried.

Just as Cifermon fired, something baseball-sized hit him extremely hard in the jaw. His head snapped to the side as the thing blew past. The fireball hit the ground far enough from Hikeru to do little more than knock him over.

The weak- and injured-looking Takimon landed on the ground in front of his target.

"Why you!" Cifermon roared. He almost fired at Takimon.

"Hyper Kick!" Subjimon jumped into the air toward Cifermon from wherever he'd been standing, executed an impressive somersault, and delivered a power kick to Cifermon with his strong legs. He knocked Cifermon off the fountain and began running toward Takimon. He narrowly missed a blast as he scooped both children up and ran toward the house.

"Subjimon can fight?" TK demanded.

"He _is_ a Rookie so—AHH!" Kari screamed. The black glow was back, engulfing her and the other DigiDestined to a point were they couldn't be seen. When the glow faded, they weren't there.

"In—" Cifermon began.

"Heaven's Charm!"

Cifermon cried out in pain as Angewoman's attack hit him. And then he was gone….

***

"I can't believe they're gone!" Gatomon cried as the ten Digimon walked aimlessly around the Hatching Grounds, "Oh, Kari! I feel like I let her down!"

"We didn't let them down," Patamon mumbled rationally, "And you were the one who destroyed Cifermon."

"I know, but…" Gatomon mumbled.

"What about Hikeru and Kasandora?" Agumon asked.

"Gomamon and I are willing to take care of Kasandora," Palmon said, "And I'm sure Gatomon and Patamon would do the same for Hikeru without giving it a second thought."

"You bet," Patamon said.

"It would make TK and Kari happy to know that their child is well taken care of," Gatomon said.

"Hello," Elecmon said quietly as they passed. Remogremon and Leomon were there and nodded. Three large DigiEggs and three normal-sized ones were nearby.

"Hi, guys," Pasthamon said as the group stopped. Everyone mumbled a greeting. They appeared to be about to start a conversation, but no one said anything.

Suddenly all six eggs began wiggling, drawing everyone's attention away from the discomfort of the silence. They all popped open at once, and the air was filled with baby sounds.

"Those are odd-looking Digimon," Leomon said, covering his ears.

"They aren't…" Elecmon said, "They aren't Digimon…."

"They're…" Gomamon began uncertainly.

"Humans!" Gatomon cried.

The three human newborns laying where there had once been a trio of large DigiEggs was the center of attention. The three Digimon from the other three eggs didn't seem to realized they were being ignored. They hopped around until they seemed satisfied with the human that was near them. The perfectly round black DigiBaby with gem-like crimson eyes snuggled up near one of the human babies. The round red Digimon with blue-iris eyes and four useless leg-less paws hopped jovially near another. The pink blob-like Digimon with small black eyes, a button-nose, bubble-like ears and tail, and a tiny pair of fin-like arms calmed the noised cause by the only female of the three humans.

"Humans…" Elecmon murmured in disbelief. He looked expectantly at the Destined Digimon, who were still gaping at the human children. Tentomon noticed him when he spread his arms as if to say, "Well?"

"What are you looking at us for?" Tentomon asked.

"The ten of you have the most experience with humans," Elecmon said, "I now Gatomon, Patamon, Palmon, and Gomamon have their paws and leaves full, but what about the rest of you? You know more about humans than I do."

"I don't think that's a very good idea…" Gabumon said uneasily, looking uncomfortably at Picamon as the little red DigiBaby rubbed against her paw. The human that that particular Digimon had seemed attracted to looked at Gabumon with newly opened blue eyes.

"Pasthamon, be careful. Don't get attached," Tentomon said to Pasthamon, "Human babies are probably hard to care for."

"But look at those eyes," Pasthamon said softly. She was looking into the little girl's bright green eyes. Pasthamon mumbled, "So bright and…."

"I think it's brainwashing you."

"…and hyper…"

"Don't look at it!"

"…and persistent-looking…"

"Step away from the baby!"

"…and intelligent…."

"Intelligent?" Elecmon asked, "At her age? Two, going on three, minutes?"

An hour of so later, Tentomon muttered, "How did we get talked into this?" He was flying with the little girl, who now wore a diaper, in his claws. Pasthamon looked up at him and smiled.

"Because they're so cute!" she said. She had the pink blob-like Digimon, which had identified itself as Panemon, on her back. Biyomon and Patamon were flying overhead as well. The round black red-eyed Digimon had had itself known as Vanamon, was on Biyomon's back. Agumon was carrying the brown-eyed boy in his arms. Gabumon had the third human on his back piggy-back style. The red blue-eyed Maffimon had perched itself on Picamon's head.

"And because this kid reminds my of Tai," Agumon moaned under the noisy boy's weight.

"How?" Gabumon asked.

"He's obnoxious."

"Let me make sure I have all their names right," Gatomon said. She pointed to the little girl and asked, "Chimari," to the pink blob, "Panemon," to the blue-eyed boy, "Kenji," to the red Digimon, "Maffimon," to the brown-eyed boy, "Hiroshi," and to Biyomon and the round black Digimon, "Vanamon. Is that right?"

"That's right!" Pasthamon smiled.

Kenji burst into wails for some unknown reason and nearly made Gabumon drop him.

"This is gonna be a long sixteen years," Tentomon sighed.


	4. The Birth of an Era

Digimon: Digital Monsters

The Next Creation

#03: The Birth of an Era

by Seruyamon  
(Cyllya)

__

***Earth Date: 3 years AA***

Izzy felt himself awaken, but he kept his eyes closed. He didn't hear an alarm clock, and he wasn't in the good mood one requires to wake up early.

"Oh, please wake up," someone whispered.

Izzy rolled to face them, weakly opened his eyes, and asked, "Why?"

The person who'd spoken seemed surprised that he'd woken up. She stuttered, "Uh…you're awake."

"Yeah," Izzy said cautiously. The first time she'd spoken, he'd assumed it was Levia, but now he knew it wasn't. He couldn't see straight, but he could tell it was a woman with long light brown hair. The room he was in was small and contained mostly white and blue. The walls of his room at Automon's Inn had the brown color of finished oak-like wood. He moved his hand to where is nightstand should have been, but something else was there instead. He felt a sudden rush of panic, fought to stay calm, and asked, "Where am I? Where are my glasses?"

"Um…Izzy, honey, you don't wear glasses," the person said, "You're in the hospital."

"Who are you?"

The person didn't answer. She seemed surprised and scared.

"No offense," Izzy said, "If I'm supposed to know you, I'm sure I'd recognize you if I could see straight."

"I'm your mother."

It took a few seconds for this information to properly register itself in Izzy's brain, "…What?"

"I'm your mom. Do you have amnesia?" she sounded panicky.

"Uh, no, I…" Izzy stuttered and sat up, "What planet are we on?"

"Uh, the same one we're always on."

"I'm looking for a name."

"Earth?"

"Earth?!" Izzy demanded. His eyes straightened a bit, and he could see well enough to recognize his mom. Tears gathered in the corners of his eyes and he hugged her. He asked, "What happened?" 

"You were asleep for over three days straight," Mrs. Izumi said, "We called the hospital when you wouldn't wake up. We were worried sick."

Izzy ran his hand down his side from his shoulder to his feet. He was wearing a hospital gown and felt shorter. He asked, "What year is this?"

His mother looked at him strangely and said, "Um, 2002."

Izzy groaned loudly and fell back into his laying position.

"It's weird because the same thing happened to your friends."

"Levia, Mimi, Joe, Tai, Sora, Matt, Vanessa, Kari, and TK?"

"Yes."

"All of them?"

"Yes."

"But no one else?"

"Just the ten of you, but you know…" while Mrs. Izumi rambled on about how worried she and his father had been, Izzy had found his clothes in a cubby under the bed and changed beneath the blankets. He got out of the bed and she asked, "Where are you going?"

"I have to talk to my friends," Izzy said.

"I think you need a doctor's permission. They're probably asleep anyway," his mom said. She took his arm as he moved toward the wall of curtains that surround his bed.

"Koushiro!"

Izzy pulled away and left the curtained area. He found Levia standing in the hall made by two rows of curtain walls. She had her hands behind her back to hold her hospital gown shut and she looked about thirteen years old.

Her eyes welled up as she moaned and asked, "Where are we? Why are we here? I'm scared, I wanna go home!"

"Calm down," Izzy consoled.

"Where are we?" Levia asked again. Also being short a pair of glasses, she squinted and corrected herself by asking, "_When_ are we?!"

"Odaiba Hospital, year 2002," Izzy said. He remained calm, then blew it, "The last eleven years have been packed into three days! THREE BLASTED DAYS!"

"Hypocrite," Levia muttered, "You just told me to calm down…."

"Sorry," Izzy grumbled, "See if you can find your clothes."

"'Kay," Levia said, walking backwards into her curtained area and closing it.

"Izzy?" another curtain opened, revealing Joe, fully dressed.

"Three days?" Izzy asked quietly, almost helplessly and desperately, "But we were here the whole time…."

"Was is all just a dream?" Mimi asked tearfully. When she appeared, she didn't have clothes, but she had a second hospital gown on backwards.

"NO!" Kari shrieked, making everyone jump. Her lip quivered as TK came out. She collapsed to the floor in a sobbing heap, "No! It was real!" TK kneeled down and wrapped his arms around her as Tai, Matt, and Levia appeared. Sora and Vanessa came out a few seconds later.

"What's wrong, Kari?" Sora asked.

Kari didn't answer, but Mimi said, "It's Hikeru. She's worried about her baby." Tears welled up in Mimi's eyes and Joe pulled her close as she moaned, "I know how she feels…."

"That must be hard," Levia said, "I'm worried about Thresee, and she's not even a baby."

"I told you not to name her."

"Put a sock in it, Izzy."

"So what happened?" Matt asked, "How did we get here and, um, now?"

"Hmm," Izzy thought, "Must've been Cifermon's attack."

"It caused a gateway between worlds despite the time difference," Levia said, "For eleven years to equal three days, the time variance would have had to return to its former one-day-every-minute routine when we first arrived to the Digital World."

"What about the fact we've been here unconscious the entire three days?" Tai asked.

"Our consciousness would have had to become digital while our bodies remained physical," Levia said, "Our conscious minds assembled simulations of our physical selves similar to the way it would in the other cases we've been to the DigiWorld. These simulations were _only_ digital bodies and, as far as I can tell, can be used only in the DigiWorld."

Izzy nodded thoughtfully. Tai, Sora, Matt, and Vanessa stared at Levia in confusion. Anyone who was a parent failed to even acknowledge her existence.

"What?" Levia asked.

Tai shrugged, "Hmm, she is Izzy's girlfriend."

"Calm down, Tenshi," TK consoled, "He's okay. They're okay. _Everything_ will be okay." He coaxed her off the floor, so she continued her sobbing while sitting at the foot of the bed she'd been on.

A nurse around age fifty or so came in and looked around in surprise. She saw Kari crying her eyes out, Mimi crying almost as much, and Joe and TK on the verge of tears. She went to Kari and asked, "What's wrong, sweetie?"

"Stay away!" Kari shrieked, throwing the nurse's hand away.

"What's wrong?" the nurse asked. She looked at TK.

"You wouldn't understand," TK said stubbornly.

"Let me see…" she approached Kari again, but TK stood in her way.

"She said 'Stay away,'" TK said coldly.

"Now, you're in the way," the nurse complained and tried to go around him. She failed and said, "Move or I'll call security."

TK stayed firm, and the nurse stomped out of the room muttering about 'kids these days.'

Izzy's dad and Levia's mom and little sister came hurriedly into the room. Out of the corner of his eye, Izzy saw his mom put away her cell phone. In another few minutes, everyone's family was crammed into the room. For the most part, everyone was cheerful because they were reunited with their families after so long of because their children were safe.

Even Mimi forced a smile onto her face as she hugged her mother, but Kari was still crying and still despised physical contact from anyone save TK. He continued to back up her pleas to be left alone, and her parents seemed more reluctantly obedient.

"She's having an emotional problem," Tai said, "There's nothing we can do just yet. She'll be okay."

"Hi, Mama!" Vanessa said to her mom.

"Hey, squirt," her mom said with little to no emotion. Vanessa drooped. Matt put his hand on her shoulder and smiled warmly when she looked him. She smiled sadly, then stood up straight and smiled.

"Okay, be quiet everyone!" the nurse yelled as she came back in, "You're not all supposed to be in here at once, but if you're quiet we can make an exception." She went over to TK, who stopped chatting with his mom to continued guarding Kari. She said, "I'm gonna do my job by checking her out whether she likes it or not."

"Over my rotting carcass."

"TK," Ms. Takaishi said disapprovingly.

"Move," the nurse said.

"No."

"TK, honey," Ms. Takaishi said, "Let her do her job."

He said, "I'm sorry," to his mom without looking at her.

"Security," the nurse called. Three guys, all of whom looked over age forty, came in and stood looking casual, careless, and tough. The nurse said, "I don't care what you do with this kid, just get him out of my way."

"Okay, squirt, move it," one of the guards said.

"What makes you think I'll listen to you when I wouldn't listen to her?" TK asked, smirking, "Just because you're a foot taller, you're male, and you act tough…probably tougher than you really are?"

"You _wanna_ pick a fight, kid?" the guy demanded.

"No," TK said, "I want everyone to leave my friend alone."

"Move," the guy repeated.

"No," TK said.

"Move or else."

"Or else what?"

"I'll shoot you."

"What?!" Ms. Takaishi demanded.

"Yeah, right," TK laughed, "Come on, shoot me. I _dare_ you!"

"Come on," he grabbed TK's left arm and got socked in the face with his right fist. All the guards charge forward in an attempt to restrain him. 

"Don't hurt him!" his mom cried.

TK did a fair job of defending himself, yet with his body being shorter and less muscular than he was used to and Kari being his top priority, he was caught. One guard grabbed each arm and the third lifted his legs off the ground and held them together under his arm.

"Let me go!" TK demanded.

"Yeah, right, you little trouble m—Ahh!" the guard holding his feet released him as he lurch forward and practically fell on top of him. TK looked up to see that Matt had kicked the guys in the back. With their back to her, Kari kicked one of the guards in the ribs and punched the other in the jaw. TK pulled away from them and took a fighting stance as Kari went back to her pitiful moping position.

"That's my little bro you're messing with!" Matt declared, standing beside him.

"And _my_ little sister he's defending," Tai said, joining them.

Matt nodded, "If you're gonna get to her, you'll have to go through all three of us."

"Right," Tai and TK said.

"Are the rest of you little brats gonna be in on this too?" the guard with the injured jaw asked bitterly.

"I know how Kari feels," Mimi said. Joe nodded.

"It's what friends are for," Vanessa grinned.

"It's only right," Izzy added.

"We've got to stick together," Levia said.

"We care to much about each other to be beaten by the likes of you," Sora proclaimed, "Or by anyone for that matter."

"Right," Joe said. The six of them joined the others.

"Call security," one of the guards said to the nurse.

"You _are_ security!"

"Call _more_ security! There are more than three guards."

"Right!" the nurse walked quickly out of the room.

Tai, Matt, TK, Mimi, Joe, Levia, Izzy, Vanessa, and Sora lined up defensively in front of Kari. The guards lined up in front of them. Tai looked over TK to Mimi, Joe, and Sora, who looked at him expectantly. He gave a slight nod toward the guard closest to them. They nodded, and he looked past Matt to Izzy, Levia, and Vanessa. He nodded toward the guard before them. He looked at Matt, then TK, then the middle guard.

"We don't want a fight," Tai whispered, "Be defensive."

"Playing leader, kid?" the guard in front of him asked.

"You wish; you're the one playing," Tai said.

"Come on," the guard said, "We need to get that little girl out of here."

TK tensed more.

"Stop it! Stop it!" Mr. Ishida yelled, "This is absurd. You're security guards that are fighting a group of kids! All they're doing is protecting their friend."

"She just wants to be left alone," Mrs. Kamiya said, "There's nothing wrong with her."

"We're giving you kids one more chance to get out of out way," the guard said. When the DigiDestined stayed firm, the guards charged forward. 

"Get 'em!" Tai yelled. They ran forward. With Matt's help, Tai flipped the charging guard over. He rolled long-ways over the floor. TK backhanded him in the side of the head. His knuckles hit the man hard enough to knock him out.

Joe kicked the second guard in the stomach. The guard grabbed his ankle and tried to trip him. Mimi caught him and Sora hit the man's wrists. The three beat him up and knocked him out. Levia and Izzy joined hands and ran toward the other guard. They ducked down as he neared them. Their hands hit him in the ankles. He was propelled forward. Vanessa used his momentum to hurl him up onto the spare bed next to Kari's.

"What is this?" Mr. Kamiya demanded, "Guerilla warfare?"

"These kids act like an army!" Mrs. Izumi commented.

"Alright," Izzy said. He yelped and almost fell to his knees. Levia held him half of the floor and supported his head with her palm.

"Izzy, are you okay?" she asked worriedly. His mom took a step forward.

"Just a tranquilizer…" Izzy mumbled sleepily. He removed the dart from his arm and tried to stand. Levia tried to help, but she got hit as well. The others having already turned that way, they looked to the fourth security guard that stood in the doorway with the nurse and a tranquilizer gun.

"Get HIM!" Tai ordered, dodging a dart. Mimi was struck with another one, but their charge was interrupted by a battle cry. TK instinctively kneeled down and folded his hands. He pushed Kari toward the guard. She hit him in the stomach, knocked him onto his back, and punched him twice.

She started to punch him again but TK grabbed her wrist, "Don't hurt him anymore, because you'll only be hurting yourself." She burst into tears again, and TK used his other arm to wrap around her and lift her up off the guard. The guard stood and stumbled weakly out of the room, holding his bloody nose, which was probably broken. The nurse and the other conscious guard followed him.

Izzy and Levia sat down on the floor, leaned against each other, and instantly fell asleep. Mimi collapsed into Joe's arms. The parents were speechless.

"K-Kari, honey?" Kari's dad asked tentatively. He carefully approached her and TK, who were clinging to each other as she cried. TK thought for a moment and nodded to him. He stepped closer and gingerly touched Kari's shoulder.

Kari shrieked, her wings sprouting and knocking him in the face. She released TK, spun around, flapped to a few inches off the tile, and swung a blind punch without even considering who she was punching. TK reached up and put his arms around her with his left hand holding her right shoulder and vice versa to form an 'x' over her chest. He pinned her ankles between his knees. His head was between her shoulder blades.

"Let me go!" she screamed. She flapped her wings and swung her arms, but she couldn't reach him. After a moment she calmed down and went semi-limp. Her wings became transparent as she stood on her knees on the floor.

"Kari?" Tai asked a bit more confidently. He placed his hand on her shoulder, but she didn't even flinch. Her wings flickered orange and faded away. Tai said, "Come on, Kari. Let's get out of here." He picked her up in his arms and looked toward the adults. He gestured to the door with his head.

__

***Earth Date: 3 years, 6 months AA***  
***DigiDate: 20 years AA***

__

Hikeru! Wake up!

A pair of bright blue eyes snapped open. They surveyed the parts of the room they could see without a flick of movement from the rest of the body. The eyes turned to the pink, basketball-sized Digimon on Hikeru's stomach. Subjimon was behind him; Gatomon and Patamon were at his side.

Subjimon and Patamon were easy to avoid, but it took skill to get out of bed without waking Gatomon. This skill, Hikeru was proud to know, was one he had. Yet the cat-like Micro Digimon Nyokomon would always wake up and follow him.

Yet now as he placed Nyokomon on the mattress next to him and pushed a blanket against Gatomon, he could tell the little Digimon was still asleep. He was the classic head-only pink Digimon with a catlike appearance, darker pink cheeks, and a tail with dark pink rings.

Hikeru was sure he'd heard a voice. Someone knocked on the front door. Gatomon and Subjimon, who always jumped to the door, only stirred a bit. He waited and the knock didn't come again.

Despite not being allowed to answer the door, especially at night, he walked cautiously out of the room and to the front door anyway.

He glanced down the hall and whispered, "Nyokomon?"

There was nothing. He stood on his tiptoes to unlock the door and opened it. He stepped out onto the cobbled sidewalk and looked up at the tall feminine human-like silhouette with bright dark-brown eyes.

With a nearly invisible motion, the figure pulled out something flat and round with a handled and held it inches from Hikeru's face.

"This person," she paused, "is very significant, even though you can't tell now.

"Destiny knows this person as Hope and Light. History knows this person as one of five saviors. Digimon will know this person as the Child of Light. Legend knows this person as the bringer of angels…. Who do you know this person as?"

Hikeru's face was calm and blank as he said, "That's me," and blinked expressionlessly at the mirror. 

The woman put the mirror away and held something else toward him. It was concealed in her closed palm-down hand. Hikeru held his and out. When his visitor's hand moved away, he was holding something he'd only remembered seeing in the pictures of history books.

***

"Gatomon! Patamon!" Hikeru yelled the next morning as he pulled his shirt on, "Can Nyokomon and I go to the ice cream shop with our friends?"

"Which friends?" Gatomon asked.

"All of them," Hikeru answered.

Gatomon looked reluctant as he bounced on one foot while putting a boot on the other one. She sighed, "Sure. Be careful."

"Do you need some money?" Patamon asked.

"Yeah, thanks!" Nyokomon said. Patamon gave some DigiDollars to Hikeru as the two kids bounded out the door. Nyokomon demanded, "What's the rush?!" as Hikeru ran toward the ice cream shop.

"I have big news and I want to tell everyone!" Hikeru said, "Last night I could have sworn it was a dream! Were you asleep? If so, it's the first time I've ever gotten out of be without you waking up!"

"You got up last night?! Without _me_?!"

"Sorry!" he skidded to a stop at the outdoor ordering window of the shop and ordered two strawberry-and-chocolate-swirl ice cream cones. He carried the cones to the table his eight friends were sitting at. He put one on the table, and Nyokomon began eating it.

"What are you grinning about?" Chimari asked.

"I have big news! Did anything funny happen to anyone else last night?" he asked.

Chimari looked anxious. She asked, "Funny as in funny, or funny as in weird?"

"If it's weird, yes," Kasandora said.

"Me two," Hiroshi answered.

"Me three," added Kenji.

"Same here," Chimari said.

"Some weird person gave you one of these things?" Hikeru held out a Digivice.

"Yep!" Hiroshi answered, holding his up. The others nodded and showed theirs.

"Ooh! Neato!" said the yellowish Micro Digimon that sat near Kenji.

"The funny lady told me I could tell the nine of you, and any reborn children," Kenji said, "Whatever that means. I can't tell the adults."

The others said they'd had the same experience. Chimari said, "Reborn Digimon are Digimon that the Dark Masters killed and that hatched again afterwards. We can tell the ones that aren't very old yet."

"Like the ones that hatched around the time you little guys did," Kasandora grinned.

"Hey, Kassie," Hiroshi snapped, "Stop talking about us like you're am Ultimate or something." Kenji and the two Digimon sitting by Hiroshi and Kasandora got a sweatdrop as the two of them started arguing.

"Why can't we tell the adults?" Chimari asked.

"Maybe they'll be mad," Hikeru said, "Like they were that one time." He grinned, "You guys, remember that one time?"

***

__

***Earth Date: 3 years AA***   
***DigiDate: 16 years AA***

"I need you like water! Like breath! Like rain! I need you like the mercy from heaven's—Hey! That hurt, you little brat!"

Kasandora, age four, stopped singing and charged angrily after Hiroshi because he'd just pulled her hair. They chased each other around Gatomon and Patamon's front lawn. Kenji, Chimari, Hikeru, and the five baby Digimon sat at the nearby miniature picnic table and watched them. After a moment, Kenji got up and stood between the laughing Hiroshi and his pursuer.

"Be nice, be friends," he said. He looked hopefully at Kasandora; she was two years older than him, so he didn't stand much chance if she decided not to listen to her. She relented and stomped back to the table. As Hiroshi went back to the table, Chimari pulled his light reddish-brownish-blond hair.

"Hey!" he whined.

"That's why Kassie's mad!" Chimari scolded, "That hurts! Kenji smart!"

Kenji blushed and ran his fingers protectively through his own dark brown hair as he sat down and resumed eating cookies. Hiroshi looked bitterly at Chimari's short chestnut-red hair, but she slapped his hand away the few times he tried to pull it.

"Hello!" Hikeru yelled suddenly. The black Digimon he yelled at instantly stopped flapping out of start and began bouncing along the cobbled road. Hikeru and Takimon got up. Hikeru waved.

"Haven't seen him before," Chimari said.

"Me neither, but my class learned about that Digimon in school yesterday, when Hikeru and Takimon weren't feeling good," Kassie said. She thought, "His name is… DemiDevimon."

The Digimon's yellow eyes widened fearfully as Kassie spoke. Hikeru went up to him and asked, "You okay?"

"Um, yeah, thanks, bye," DemiDevimon said quickly and began to take flight.

"Wanna cookie?" Hikeru asked, holding up a chocolate chip cookie. DemiDevimon looked at him like he was the most shocking creature in the known universe.

"Hello!" another Digimon said, somehow hanging upside-down near Hikeru.

"Hi!" Takimon squeaked in a seldom-used high-pitched voice.

"Don't hurt him!" DemiDevimon squawked to Puppetmon as the Mega Digimon righted himself.

"For your info, I wasn't planning on it," Puppetmon said, "Since I became an In-training and Gatomon gave me that famous dirty look of hers when I tripped a classmate, I decided to turn over a new leaf. Were you planning on hurting him?"

"No," DemiDevimon said, "Why would I? I have no employer, but *he* just offered me a cookie."

"Here!" Hikeru said cheerfully. He shoved the cookie into DemiDevimon's mouth and said, "Just a minute! I go get more!" He ran into the house.

"Hi!" Kassie said as she and the others approached the two Digimon, "Do you know patty-cake?"

"Yeah, here!" Puppetmon said, holding his hands up. By the time they'd finished the patty-cake poem, Hikeru was back out with more cookies.

"Gatomon let us have more since friends came over!" he said.

"We're… their friends?" DemiDevimon asked.

Puppetmon considered, "Why not? It'll give me someone to play with. Ten someones."

"We friends!" Kenji smiles. Maffimon bounced up and down excitedly.

***

"I don't know how you guys' guardians reacted," Hikeru began.

"But Patamon almost fainted and Gatomon blew her top!" Nyokomon finished laughingly.

"Mmm-hmm," Kassie grinned.

"That was funny!" said the Digimon next to her. She looked a lot like Tanemon without paws, but she had a small fish tail, long thin flippers, and dark blue eyes.

"Gabumon _did_ faint!" said Kenji's yellow Digimon. It looked like a larger body-less version of Kittimon's head. His face was white, his eyes were big and green, and his ears were large and round. He had a tiny nub-like tail and stripes on his back.

"Kinnomon, you aren't supposed to tell people that!" Kenji whispered while trying to hold back snickers.

"Oops!" Kinnomon said.

"Funny!" the Tanemon-like Digimon had cracked up and couldn't stop laughing.

"Bunemon! Don't lean against me when you're laughing!" the Digimon near Chimari said, "You'll make me choke on my ice cream!"

"Sorry, Mossimon!" Bunemon giggled, scooting away. Mossimon was a round indigo Digimon with large blue globular insect eyes. She had a pair of large white blue-rimmed ears and a black horn.

"Biyomon almost had a nervous breakdown," Hiroshi said seriously.

"But Agumon was so shocked he accidentally coughed up a fireball and almost scorched us!" said his Digimon. It was round and pink with mini-tentacle-like things on the bottom of it. It had long thin ears and big red black-rimmed eyes with a vertical mark over them.

"Yeah!" Hiroshi laughed, but added, "It wasn't funny then though! Huh, Yoromon?"

"Nope!" Yoromon agreed.

"Hey, what's up, guys!" Kassie called as she saw Puppetmon and DemiDevimon approached.

"Clouds 'n stuff," DemiDevimon grinned, "The usual."

"When did you guys hatch?" Chimari asked.

"About the time you did," Puppetmon said.

"Look what we got!" Hiroshi said, showing his Digivice.

Puppetmon and DemiDevimon looked at the Digivice, looked at each other, and turned back to the Digivice. Puppetmon nodded interestedly. DemiDevimon said, "I'm not surprised. Figures you guys would be DigiDestined."

"Chimari, Hiroshi, and Kenji aren't anyone's children," Puppetmon pointed out.

"Sure they are," DemiDevimon said, "They were just born the way Psyche Digimon are. You notice that Chimari is mostly smart and persistent, Kenji is exceptionally friendly and virtuous, and Hiroshi is courageous. Maybe when he's older, he be loveable too."

"Love?! Eww!" Hiroshi gagged. Yoromon made a face.

"Maybe when he's a _lot_ older," DemiDevimon specified.

"So they're _all_ the children of the DigiDestined?" Puppetmon asked, "Not just Kassie and Keri?"

'Keri' was Hikeru's nickname.

"Sure, not only are they the DigiDestined's kids, they're the new DigiDestined!" DemiDevimon said. He groaned and asked, "Is there gonna be another war?!"

"I'll be on the Light's side," Puppetmon commented.

"Me too, but I'm going on strike if I get eaten again!"

"Demi, just who _are_ you going to complain to if something eats you?"

"That something's stomach, that's who!"

"You're Digimon Analyzer entry's gonna end up saying something like, 'DemiDevimon. Description: The ultimate case of indigestion!'"

"And I'll be proud of it!"

"And I'll be proud of you!"

"We're proud Digimon!"

"You bet!"

"Uh-huh!"

"Always!"

"Yep!"

Hikeru, Nyokomon, Kassie, Bunemon, Hiroshi, Yoromon, Kenji, Kinnomon, Chimari, and Mossimon were looking at them blankly with big sweatdrops. Bunemon asked, "What are you guys talking about?"

"Um, never mind…" DemiDevimon and Puppetmon said together.

***

"WATCH WHERE YOU'RE SWINGIN' THAT THING!" Kassie screeched less than a second after a stick skimmed the top of her head. Keri laughed nervously and put the stick behind his back as Bunemon and Nyokomon wiggled away fearfully.

"Sorry," he laughed. They were in the yard behind his house. There was a patio with some assorted pieces of patio furniture, a currently empty clothes line, and a tree with a swing hanging from one branch. The rest was empty grass.

"Yeah, whatever," Kassie grumbled, "What _are_ you swinging that stick around for anyway?"

"It's my sword."

"If you say so…" Kassie got a sweatdrop.

"No, I'm using it to practice."

"Oh…practice what?"

"My sword skills! I'm gonna learn how to sword fight!"

"Oh! That's cool! I can't believe Gatomon and Patamon will let you!"

"Actually…they haven't yet…."

"Jeez! You're jumping into things, aren't you?!"

Keri continued his attempted sword-fighting moves a few feet away. He said, "If they say no. I'll keep learning the way I have been: watching the people that get lessons."

"And practicing with your stick," Kassie added blandly.

"Yeah…."

"We're gonna go get some lemonade!" Nyokomon announced before he and Bunemon went into the house through the back door.

"Anyway," Kassie said, sitting on a lawn chair, "Bunemon and I wanted to ask you about something. You always seem to understand things nobody else does, so—"

"No, that's Chimari."

"She's like that with school-related stuff," Kassie said, "But when it's weird stuff that even she can't explain, then you usually get it. I _did_ ask her first, but she said I should ask you because it was a, quote, 'psychological question.' What ever that means."

"I'll do my best to help, but you'd probably be better off asking Palmon, Gomamon, or a teacher."

"No. Not for this…."

"Okay, ask away."

"Um…."

"'Um,' what?"

"Will you promise not to laugh at me?"

"Sure. I'll even do my best not to snicker."

"That's not funny."

"No, but maybe what you're asking is."

"It's not," Kassie said, stressing "not" very firmly. She asked, "Do you… ever… get the feeling… you don't… belong…where you are?"

Keri's movements slowed as he considered. He stopped all together with the stick extended in front of him. He asked, "You mean, like, you feel like this isn't your place? That even though Primary Village is you home, that you need to be somewhere else? That something is racking you brain, and you'll never be able to focus again until you're somewhere else where you're needed more?"

"Uh-huh. Considering your detailed knowledge, I guess that's a 'yes,'" Kassie concluded.

Keri nodded and wordlessly continued.

"Hey, guys."

"Oh, hi, Demi!" Kassie said, spotting DemiDevimon perched on the edge of the roof.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to eavesdrop," he explained, "but your conversation seemed to be too important to interrupt. So I just sat here 'til you were done."

"That's fine, it's nothing private, 'cept that 'no adults' rule," Kassie said.

"By the way—you guys are seven and eight right?—you sounded a lot older when you were talking a second ago," DemiDevimon said.

"I'm seven and a half," Keri explained and corrected.

"My mistake."

"Do you ever feel like that, Demi?" Kassie asked.

"No," DemiDevimon said, "The only reason I ever get an urge to leave the village is because there are so many people here that don't like me."

"It's okay, we like you," Kassie said. Keri nodded.

"Thanks guys," DemiDevimon said, "But you ought to talk to you guardians about this. Just make sure you don't tell them I suggested it."

"Okay," Kassie said. Keri nodded again. After a few moments of wordlessness, Kassie said, "Ya know, Keri, for someone who's got no clue of what he's doing, you're gettin' perty good at that!"

"Thanks…um, I guess."

***

"You want to leave?" Patamon asked as he Keri and Nyokomon sat down at the table for a pre-lunch snack.

Keri and Nyokomon slumped, fearing that Patamon would say no and maybe even get angry, but the Digimon smiled.

"You picked a pretty good time to get wanderlust," Patamon laughed, "Picamon said that some of her relatives wanted her to visit. So we were all gonna take a little vacation to the Kittimon Village."

"Sounds fun!" Nyokomon exclaimed, "Don't you think so, Keri?"

"Great," Keri said. A family vacation wasn't exactly what he'd had in mind, but it was good enough.

***

Keri, Nyokomon, Kassie, Bunemon, Hiroshi, Yoromon, Chimari, Mossimon, Kenji, Kinnomon, their guardians, Thresee, and Subjimon took a taxi—a cart driven by a Gazimon and pulled by a Monochromon—to The Forest of Irrelevant Road Signs. In a large clearing near the center of the forest was a large group of huts about four-feet-high that seemed too short for their ten-or-so-foot diameters.

The Kittimon were Animal Digimon about the size of Tokomon. They had chubby yellowish-beige bodies, four short legs, round ears, short tails, green eyes, and a pair of brown stripes across their backs.

"Hi, Picamon!" several Kittimon exclaimed in unison. They tackled her the moment she was out of the cart. The others passengers sweatdropped as they stepped off.

After an hour or so of the adults chitchatting, the kids, save Subjimon, were practically asleep from boredom. They were sitting on the ground, leaning a against trees, road signs, or each other when Picamon turned to them a gave a small laugh.

"Why don't you guys go amuse yourselves? It beats sitting there until moss grows on you!" she said.

"We can go?!" Hiroshi demanded happily.

"Sure, behave though," Biyomon said.

"Stay where someone can see you!" Gatomon called as the ten of them ran off. A few minutes later, they weren't much better off.

"Does anybody have any money?" Kenji asked as they passed a tiny restaurant hut, "There's nothing to do around here, but some food would be nice."

"I don't," most of the others said together.

Chimari quickly counted her DigiDollars and blandly said, "If anyone's thirsty, we can all share a small soda."

Everyone mumbled casual declines, and Hiroshi said, "Let's explore the forest."

"But Gatomon told us to stay where someone could see us," Chimari pointed out.

"We'll be able to see each other," Hiroshi said.

"You know that's not what she meant, Hiroshi," Yoromon said.

"I know, but I'm starting to get that sense of having to be somewhere else too," Hiroshi said.

"So was I," Chimari added, "I noticed it this morning."

"Me too," Kenji said.

"And me," said Kinnomon. The other four Digimon nodded.

"What if we get lost?" Kassie asked nervously.

"We'll go in a straight line, so we can come right back," Hiroshi said.

"What if we run into one of those plants that makes you itchy?"

"We won't mess with strange plants," Chimari said.

"What if we run into something dangerous?"

"We'll watch where we're going," Chimari said irritably, "Do you want to come or not?"

"Not really…" Kassie mumbled.

"It's okay," Kenji said, "You don't have to go anywhere you don't want to…. We'll go alone."

"You're leaving me here?" Kassie asked.

"You can come if you want," Nyokomon said.

"We'll see you later," Hiroshi said. He waved and started into the forest.

"See ya," Keri added.

"Bye!" Nyokomon said.

"Later!" Yoromon said.

"But…" Kassie whined.

"Bye-bye, Kassie," Bunemon said.

"Bunemon," Kassie moaned, sounding betrayed. As the others said goodbye and started into the forest, Kassie sighed and slumped miserably, "Oh, well…."

"Excuse me?" asked a tiny voice.

"Hmm?" Kassie mumbled, looking down to see a Kittimon with a tray of food and apron of sorts.

"Would you like a free sample of my new recipe?" it asked.

"Um, what is it?" Kassie asked. The food was a group of brownish sticks.

"Breaded liver sticks!"

"Bunemon! Chimari! Don't leave me here! Come on, guys! Wait up!"

The Kittimon stood there and sweatdropped as Kassie ran frantically after the others.

__

***Earth Date: 3 years, 6 months AA***

"Good morning, honey," Tai and Kari's mom said as Kari walked into the kitchen for breakfast, "How are you feeling?"

"Mmm," Kari mumbled. She fixed herself a bowl of cereal and sat down next to Tai. Tai rolled his eyes solemnly as their parents exchanged worried glances.

"What's wrong, Kari-ko?" Mr. Kamiya asked.

Kari grunted and moved the pieces of cereal around in her bowl.

"Ya know, I'm not psychology expert," Tai said, "But I have a good guess as to what's wrong with her." His parents waited hopefully, and he said, "The same that's been wrong with her every day for the last six months."

"And what's that?" Mrs. Kamiya asked.

Tai sighed and shook his head in frustration. He said, "Let's review this _one more time._ Kari, equals age twenty-one, equals MOMMY! I've told you this before. Is there anyone who does not understand this yet?! Be a little sympathetic; she wants her baby back."

"Tai, you know that was just a dream," Mr. Kamiya said affectionately.

CRASH!

Tai slapped his hand on his forehead and cried, "Not the 'D' word!" as Kari stormed into her room, leaving Mr. Kamiya coated with cereal, milk, and a spare bowl.

__

***Earth Date: 3 years, 6 months AA***

***DigiDate: 19 years AA***

"Are you _sure_ we're going the right way?" Kassie whined.

"There's no such thing as going the wrong way!" Hiroshi said cheerfully.

"That's why it's called, 'exploring!'" Mossimon added. Chimari nodded.

"Something smells," Kassie said.

"Doesn't it always?" Kenji asked, "We've always ignore Hiroshi, why is now different?"

"Hey!" Hiroshi snapped. Kinnomon failed at stifling a laughed.

"No, seriously!" Kassie said, holding the collar of her dress over her face, "It really smells!" Bunemon and the other Digimon made a face.

"She's right," Chimari said bitterly, "Let's go back."

"But I want to see what stinks!" Hiroshi said with a plugged nose.

"But in order to see it, you have to smell it!" Kassie shrieked as he jogged forward. They followed the stubborn kid into a clearing with a small river. The river exited a large pipe that came out of a hill to the group's right and continued through a dam of sorts to their left. Between the pipe and the dam, the water was opaque and gray-green. There were gross-looking bits of moss, algae, black stuff, and orange-ish stuff. There was some brownish stuff as well, but that was best left unidentified….

"Eww," Kassie said simply.

"Gross!" Chimari whined.

"Let's leave!" Mossimon pleaded.

"I second that suggestion!" Kinnomon cried.

"Alright, let's go!" Hiroshi said, "Hey, what's that?"

"Stink fumes?" Kenji suggested.

"No, that!" Hiroshi pointed to he dam. Perfectly clean water was coming through on the other side, but there were Digimon there. The group was mostly hidden by the bushes, so the Digimon didn't notice them there.

"I hope they're here to clean the place," Bunemon said.

"Let's not get in their way," said Chimari. Everyone turned around in unison and came face-to-face with a Digimon about half their size in height. Despite being shorter, it looked dangerous enough.

"Hi, nice to meet you," Kenji said, trying to sound like he meant it. The Digimon looked just like Numemon with a beige shell. Instead of a large gross-looking green slug, it was a large gross-looking green snail. It didn't have the purple spots that were on a Numemon, but the shell had purple stripes. It narrowed its bulging elevated eyes angrily.

"I have a Digimon Analyzer," Chimari informed, taking the hand-held device out of her pack. She turned it on and held it toward the Digimon. She said, "KaratsukiNumemon," and read the rest of its stats.

-------------------------  
**KaratsukiNumemon**   
Group: Crustacean Digimon  
Attribute: Virus  
Level: Champion  
Technique: Shells Attack  
~~~  
Even with his shell, he's still cowardly. He is common in wet smelly places and can burrow.

-------------------------

"Yo, Morons!" KaratsukiNumemon called to the group of Digimon near the dam, "Get over here!"

The Digimon approached the group. Everyone else glanced over Chimari's shoulder as she nervously analyzed each Digimon. The green goblin-like like Digimon with leather clothing, a gaudy wooden club, and a red Mohawk was the first analyzed.

-------------------------

****

Goblimon   
Group: Ogre Digimon

Attribute: Virus

Level: Rookie

Technique: Goblin Bomb

~~~

This little ogre Digimon loves mischief! He can travel fairly well underground, but is better off on the surface.

-------------------------

Another Digimon looked exactly like it, but had darker skin, blue clothes, and a yellow Mohawk.

-------------------------

****

Shamamon 

Group: Ogre Digimon  
Attribute: Virus  
Level: Rookie

Technique: Shaman Hammer  
~~~  
Some believe his strange dance is a revelation from the gods. He can travel fairly well underground, but is better off on the surface.

-------------------------

Finally, she investigated a large orange caterpillar-like Digimon with a blue beak, six curved blue spikes for arms, and another such spike on the end of it. It had six red feet and long wavy ears. Its eyes couldn't be seen, but it had lightning patterns on its body that seemed to replace the lack of eyes.

-------------------------

****

Kunemon   
Group: Larva Digimon  
Attribute: Virus  
Level: Rookie  
Technique: Electric Thread  
~~~  
He attacks behind him with a thread of electricity. He travels underground.

-------------------------

There were three of every Digimon, save Kunemon, of which there were six. Chimari involuntarily shuddered every time the word "Virus" appeared on the screen. Kassie, Bunemon, Keri, and Nyokomon were older than the others, and Chimari and Mossimon were a little brighter than average. The six of them realized they had a good reason to feel worried by the fifteen Viruses surrounding them.

Hiroshi, Kenji, Yoromon, and Kinnomon were clueless….

"Hello, how are you?" Kinnomon asked, struggling to smile despite the strong smell.

"Uh, we were just leaving," Chimari said quickly. She grabbed Kenji's arm and moved toward a space between a Shamamon and Goblimon. The two of them moved closer and grinned menacingly.

"Sorry," the first KaratsukiNumemon said, "We can't let you leave."

"But I hafta be back in time for dinner," Hiroshi explained.

"To bad," KaratsukiNumemon said, "Because, now that you've seen us coming around the dam, we can't let you leave. You'll go tell everyone."

"No we won't," Kenji said, "Friends always keep secrets!"

Chimari, Mossimon, and the older kids sweatdropped.

"Kids are blabber mouths!" KaratsukiNumemon concluded, "You won't leave here with your lives! Get them, guys!"

"HALT!" a voice boomed.

The Viruses froze in mid-stride.

"I AM DEVIMON, LORD AND MASTER OF FILE ISLAND AND BEYOND! THESE CHILDREN ARE MY SERVANTS! LEAVE THEM BE OR FACE MY WRATH!"

"Devimon?!" the three KaratsukiNumemon squealed in unison. They drew quickly into their shells.

"Devimon?" Hiroshi wondered.

"Who's that?" Yoromon asked.

Chimari pushed a few buttons on her Digimon Analyzer. Devimon's entry appeared. She squeaked and said, "Ooh! Looks scary!"

"I _AM_ SCARY!" the voice boomed, "YOU EVIL DIGIMON! LEAVE, AND I WILL SPARE YOUR MISERABLE DATA!"

The shells began inching away from the kids.

"Hey, boss," a Kunemon said, "Even if that was Devimon, he's not too strong. He's only a Champion, like you. He doesn't have too much experience, or he'd have been destroying a bunch of people and we'd have heard about it!"

"Hey, you're right!" the leading KaratsukiNumemon said, emerging from the shell, "Show yourself, you imposter!"

It was several seconds later when…

"Demi Darts!"

…hypodermic syringes showered from above. They were aimed at the Virus Digimon, but in the attacker's attempt to avoid the children, few of the shots hit their mark.

"Back off!" DemiDevimon ordered, perching on Keri's shoulder, "I can poison you! You'll be as sick as a Yokomon on meat diet! You'll have a fever like a Frigimon in a volcano!"

The evil Viruses looked at him with sweatdrops. 

"Look kids," he whispered as the good guys drew closer, "if I can't scare 'em off, you're all going to have to punch, kick, smack, and Bubble Blow your way out of this while I go get some help." To the mean Digimon, he boomed, "So, I'm not Devimon, but I am DemiDevimon and LadyDevimon is my commander! She is an _Ultimate_ Digimon, and she commands that I return her minions to her at once!"

"DemiDevimon works for LadyDevimon?" Hiroshi asked. Chimari shushed him.

"Attack them!" KaratsukiNumemon ordered.

"Bubble Blow!" Yoromon called, spraying the oncoming Digimon with the acidic bubbles.

"Hold out as long as you can!" DemiDevimon said, "I'll get Gatomon!" He began to fly like he'd never flown before. As he looked back at them, he remembered that they were just little kids, little terrified panic-stricken children in their first fight, and he offered the only words of advice he had time for: "Remember to stay together! You can accomplish so much as a team and so little on your own!"

__

***Earth Date: 3 years, 6 months AA***

"Come on, Kari!" TK called, "Open the door!" He pounded on her bedroom door with one hand. His other arm was filled with a trio of textbooks. He called, "I don't want to study either, but we have to pass the semester final exams!"

"She's been cranky ever since Dad said the 'd' word at breakfast," Tai explained, "She locked the door and hasn't said a thing since."

"Let me in, or I'm going home!" TK yelled.

"What was your dad thinking?" Matt asked Tai as they watched TK try to talk Kari into opening the door. Tai shrugged.

"Fine see you later!" TK snapped. He turned, handed his books to Matt, gestured for his silence, and left the apartment. Several minutes later, Tai and Kari's bedroom window opened, and TK sat on the windowsill.

Kari looked up with her wet red eyes giving him an evil glare. She had been laying face down with her face buried in a pillow and a blanket covering her whole body.

TK grinned, "How's it going, Tenshi?"

She reburied her face.

TK climbed into the room and sat next to her. He rubbed her back through the blanket and said, "Let's study for that chemistry test, then we'll study something like our combat moves. Sound good?"

Kari grunted and scooted away from him, still under the blanket. He rolled his eyes, rolled her onto her back, uncovered her face, and kissed her.

"Come on, Kari," he said, "I know you're upset, I am too. But look on the bright side."

"Yeah, yeah, I heard that from Tai already. We get to see our parents again."

"That is a bright side," TK said, "But not the one I was gonna say…. We still have each other, don't we? And remember that even though we shrunk, we still have scars for some reason. Both from our battles and our wedding." He raise his right hand to show her the cross on his palm.

Kari looked at her own hand and smiled slightly. She said, "My parents are still in denial that any of it happened. They keep saying it was a dream."

"I don't care what they say," TK said and kissed her again, "I care what you think, what we know. It wasn't a dream."

Kari smiled as he stroked her hair.

"Now come on," he said, "Let's study."

Kari's smile faded. She rolled to her side so she had her back to him and mumbled, "What's the point?"

"We're getting bad grades on stuff we already learned!" TK said. He laid down enough to hug her and said, "Sometimes I cry, because it's so vexing. We're not alone in our world, but I have my aspirations. If we stay barefoot, I'm sure we'll be all right. At the top of the Ferris wheel we're near the sky. That same sky is watching over many people. Will today continue tomorrow? If we wish for it, surely it will."

Those words were part of a poem, and Kari practically melted at the sound of them. She rolled to face him and said, "I love you."

"I love you too," TK said. He kissed her.

***Earth Date: 3 years 6 months AA***  
***DigiDate: 19 years AA***

"Get back here you flappy-winged joker!"

"What's the matter, Kitty Litter? Can't keep up?!" DemiDevimon laughed and flew at top speed to where his friends had been. Gatomon was bounded through the trees often less than a foot behind him, but she was mad.

When Gatomon would listen to him long enough for him to explain the current problem, he'd gotten a bit desperate and scratched her. Her anger made her chase him, and he hoped she wouldn't catch him before he got to the others. Biyomon and Tentomon were flying a ways behind her. Picamon was running on the ground, and the others were probably behind somewhere as well. 

"Please be okay, please be okay…" he repeated to himself between gasps for breathe

***

"Bubble Blow!" Yoromon cried. The Kunemon cringed slightly, but the KaratsukiNumemon were unaffected.

"Take that!" Hiroshi cried. He lunged forward and slapped the KaratsukiNumemon's eyes. The Digimon cringed back. Hiroshi called, "Aim for the eyes! That's their weakness!"

"You even sound like a leader!" DemiDevimon cried proudly as he flapped into view at rocket speed, "DemiDarts!"

"Ahh!" Keri cried as Kunemon's electric thread barely missed him but made a rip in the edge of his shirt as it skimmed him. He lost his balance while dodging and fell to the ground. He looked up to see a Shamamon above him, hammer raised.

"Shaman Hammer!" the Shamamon called.

"Nyokomon di—!" Nyokomon started.

"Lightning Claw!"

A white blur raced across their vision. Shamamon jumped in start and looked dumbfounded at his hammer as everything but the handle clattered to the ground in three sections.

"Gatomon!" Keri called. Gatomon bounded back toward him and slammed the Shamamon into a tree. She turned to Keri and Nyokomon and shouted, "Get out of here! NOW!"

"C'mon!" Nyokomon cried, not having to be told twice. Keri scrambled up and ran after him. He tripped on a tree root and fell back down. He struggled into a kneeling position.

"Goblin Bomb!" a Goblimon shouted, sending a bomb toward him.

"Look out!" Hiroshi called. He slammed into Keri and knocked him out of the bomb's path.

"Spiral Twister!" 

Biyomon's attack on the Goblimon blasted him down. He didn't look like he'd get up for a while.

"Pepper Breath! Poy!" Agumon spat. His fireball set the leaves on the end of a branch into flames. The KaratsukiNumemon that had expected to be hit looked up then laughed at him. Agumon grinned.

"Boom Bubble! Pwah!" Patamon shouted. He hit the base of the branch and turned the section to splinters. The branch fell with the flaming end landing between the KaratsukiNumemon's eyes. The snail bounced around in pain and looked as if he had some sort of flaming hair.

"Water Blast!" Pasthamon called as she burst out of a bush in front of the KaratsukiNumemon and shot him with water. It relieved him of the fire, but knocked him into a tree.

"Blue Blaster! Hah!" Gabumon yelled. He knocked a Shamamon back and rushed to help defend Kenji and Kinnomon from a Shamamon, three Kunemon, and two Goblimon.

Picamon landed right in front of the kids and grinned despite the semicircle of Digimon around her. She jumped and yelled, "Sparkle Beam!" The Digimon advancing on her froze and then swooned as the blast of light that hit them made them dizzy.

"Blue Blaster! Hah!" Gabumon cried to knock them aside.

"Electric Thread!" a Kunemon shrieked.

"Oh!" Mossimon moaned as she and Chimari dropped down on their stomachs to avoid the blast.

"Is that the best you can do?" Tentomon asked as he flew over, "Super Shocker!" In a single shot, he toasted two Kunemon.

"Run!" a Goblimon called. As he started to run past a bush, purple and white clawed flipper came out of it and tripped him. Gomamon popped from the bush and pinned him down.

"Where do you think you're going?" he asked.

"Everybody out of here!" the lead KaratsukiNumemon yelled.

"Sorry!" Picamon jumped in front of the stampede of fleeing bad guys, "Sparkle Beam!"

"Poison Ivy!" Palmon shouted. She tied all of them up and held them until DemiDevimon flew down with a rope.

"Thanks for getting help, Demi," Bunemon said to him. If she hadn't spoken when she did, DemiDevimon would probably have been sliced apart.

"No problem," he said. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Gatomon lower her claw slowly. About one of her hairs relaxed.

***

Keri looked absent-mindedly out the window as he leaned against its sill. He looked at the cobbled road of Primary Village, which the occasional group of small Digimon would bounce across playfully.

"Hey, Keri!" Nyokomon greeted, bouncing up onto his head, "Wanna come out and play?"

"Nah," Keri answered, "You go ahead."

"Okay," Nyokomon said, sounding ever so slightly disappointed, "I'll see you later!" He bounced toward the door, jumped up, and opened it with his tail. He bounced down the street.

"Why don't you want to go with Nyokomon?" Patamon asked casually.

"Uh," Keri mumbled, shrugging one shoulder.

"Are you feeling okay," Patamon asked, sounding concerned.

"Uh-huh," Keri answered. He leaned closer to the window so he could look down the street. A few seconds later, much to Patamon's surprise and distress, he laid his hands in his arms and started sobbing loudly.

"Uh, Keri? What's wrong?" Patamon asked frantically, coming over to try and comfort him, "Calm down, come on calm down. Tell me what's wrong. Don't cry, uh, calm down…!"

"Where do I go?!" Keri demanded, looking at Patamon with mournful teary eyes.

"Wha?" Patamon asked.

"I don't belong here!" Keri sobbed, "Where do I go?!"

"Uh, I, um…" Patamon stuttered, "Well…GATOMON?!"

"What?" Gatomon asked, coming from the kitchen with a plate and a dish towel. She saw Keri, tossed the plate aside, and ran to him. She asked, "What's wrong, Keri?" Subjimon came out of the kitchen just in time to catch the plate.

Gatomon managed to coax him into calming down, but he wouldn't speak. After a while, he raised his head, his tears having dried.

"What's wrong?" Gatomon asked again.

Keri blinked at her. "Nothing," he said, "I'm… fine." He got up and walked down the hall toward the bedroom.

Gatomon, Patamon, and Subjimon stood there in confusion, staring after him.

"Maybe we should get him some counseling," Patamon suggested.

Gatomon sighed.

***

"That was weird," Roemon said.

"No kidding," Gatomon said, "I'm worried about him." She passed her friends cups of tea. Sitting at the table with her were Poseimon, Pasthamon, Palmon, Biyomon, Oramon, and Tykemon. Roemon was standing.

"It _is_ really weird," Palmon said, "because Kassie's had the same problem. She'll have a nightmare or something, and when she wakes up, I hear here ask herself why she doesn't belong. She says Primary Village is her home and doesn't want to leave."

Pasthamon said, "Chimari talks to herself a lot, but she's usually just thinking out loud. She has this spot near the window where she paces when she's thinking a lot. It's where our desk and computer are. She'll look out the window, see something, and start thinking about it. But lately, she walks faster instead of pacing, like she's restless. She'll walk back and forth, stop, look out the window, shake her hands and jump up and down like she's hyper, and then she'll start pacing again."

"Does she say anything?" Poseimon asked.

"Every now and then I'll hear her mutter something," Pasthamon said, "Something like, 'Where to go? Where to go? Where is it?'"

"Hiroshi's been jumpy lately too," Biyomon said, "He's always kind of jumpy, but spaced out. The only time he's alert is when someone mentions going somewhere or there's a map around."

"Picamon and Gabumon told me Kenji is vaguely the same way," Roemon said.

"Perhaps I can help," Oramon said.

***

"Keri? May I speak to you alone?" Oramon asked him, standing in the doorway of the bedroom. The room was occupied by Keri, Nyokomon, Puppetmon, and Mossimon. Keri started to get up, but Oramon said, "Stay seated. I'd prefer if your friends left for a few minutes."

Keri gave a nod, his face blank. They others walked or bounced from the room, leaving him alone with Oramon. She sat down a ways in front of him.

"I want to do a tarot reading for you," she said, holding out a deck of tarot cards, "I'll explain what everything means as I do it. Afterward I'll explain each thing again. Then I'll tell you what everything means when it's together. Stay quiet, and don't get worried by scary-looking cards, okay?"

Keri nodded.

Oramon shuffled her cards and began laying them out face down with her left hand. The was one card closest to her, one closest to Keri, three cards in the middle, and two cards between each single card and the row of three. There were nine cards arranged in a diamond shape. She pointed to the card closest to Keri.

"This card represents you," she said. She turned it over, "It's the Devil card. It looks scary, but it represents your instinctual needs—that is to say, food, sleep, whatever. It could also represent that you are in need of something. It could mean that you need to identify your inner darkness."

Keri remained expressionless and gave one nod.

"In such a case as that being your card, this card," she indicated the one closest to her, "is what that need or darkness may be." 

She turned it, revealing a scary-looking picture adorned with a Phantomon-like thing and several puddles of blood and randomly discarded bodily limbs. She looked expectantly at Keri, expecting a response, which he didn't give. 

She said, "This is the Death card—" she glanced at him again, "—but you don't have to worry about dying or anything. It means that there with be a change in your life, rather it be good or bad. It most liking represents the end of something, but endings bring new beginnings. Once you free yourself of any past garbage, you can start on an entirely new path."

She saw his eyes twitch as he mouthed _new path_. She pointed to the three center cards.

"This row, in this case, most likely represents the type of change, end, or new beginning you'll have," Oramon said, "Perhaps it will mean all three." 

She turned over the cards, showing that they were the Chariot, the Hermit, and the Aeon cards.

"The Chariot card represents the principle of the will," she said, "and how it performs with a whole being behind it. Yet it symbolizes new struggles, and that those struggles can be overcome be persistence and integrity. Though bruised and tired, you emerge victorious. You need to decide on a new move.

"The Hermit is the card of wisdom and isolation," she continued, "The lamp in this picture represents the knowledge and wisdom gained by this man. It most likely signifies that, with solitude, you will increase your knowledge, wisdom, and experience."

She said, "The Aeon card is the pass through the fires of purification. Like the Death card, it shows change. From this moment forward, everything will change."

Keri gave a nod, and Oramon quickly reviewed each meaning. She said, "You have an instinctual need for something, most likely change. You desire for your babyhood to end so that your life can begin. You need solitude so that you may find your own inner meaning. You go triumphantly from your infancy to what ever the next stage in your life is. Your life will be different from here on. Do you understand?"

In a normal case, a child of Keri's age wouldn't understand, due to the fact that every third word was yet to be part of his vocabulary. Yet something in Oramon's tone got the point across.

"Yes," he said.

"Call your human friends over here," Oramon said, "One at a time. I'll due this for them."

Kassie was the first to sit before her. The Fool card that represented her was the card of beginning journeys and walking the path of life with a smile on your lips. The next card, most likely representing her journey, was Death like Keri's. The next three cards were the same as Keri's.

Chimari's first card was the Hermit, symbolizing that she was a loner that would become studious and wise. Her second card was Death and the next three were Fool, Chariot, and Aeon.

Kenji's first card was the card of Justice, most likely meaning that he moved toward balance and harmony. His second, again, Death. His next three were Hermit, Hanged Man, and Tower. This probably meant that he needed to be alone to learn, that he would need to make sacrifices in order to get something good, and that he would experience growth by experience. 

Hiroshi was represented as the Emperor card, meaning that he trusted and depended on his own power while providing for and protecting others. His second, of course, was Death. The next three were Hermit, Hanged Man, and Moon. He need to be alone to choose his sacrifices and conquer illusions and falsities.

Now knowing what she needed to know, Oramon went to their guardians, excusing the children. She told them what she expected the five readings to mean together.

"WHAT?!" Gatomon demanded, "They're just little kids, you can't expect them to go out on their own. Remember what happened in the forest?"

"I wasn't there, but I heard twenty or so different accounts of it," Oramon said, rubbing her eyes because five tarot readings in a row made her tired, "but I know this is what they want and need. They're six, seven, and eight. They are stronger than children. I know it will solve their problem if you let them go."

The kitchen door opened and everyone abruptly stopped talking. They turned to look at Keri.

"Sorry," he said, "I don't mean to bug you guys while you're talking about grown-up stuff, but I'm really thirsty. Can I get some juice?"

"Go ahead," Gatomon said, Everyone stared at the table while he poured his juice.

"Hey, Keri?" Patamon asked, "If you were going to go somewhere outside Primary Village by yourself, where would you go?"

"I don't think," Keri said, putting the pitcher of juice away, "that I would go by myself. I'd ask Nyokomon to come with me."

"Then where would you go?" Patamon asked.

"Maybe in a circle around Primary Village," Keri said, "I bet there's a lot of neat stuff nearby, but I've never seen it."

"Oh," Patamon responded. He looked at Gatomon, who raise a brow. Keri finished his juice and left. Gatomon sighed and looked around at the other Destined Digimon and Oramon.

Gabumon said, "Let's ask the others."

***

"Maybe I'd go to… Toy Town," Kenji said thoughtfully, "with Kinnomon. I heard the forest around there is really neat."

Picamon cocked her head, thinking.

***

"I've always wanted to see the ocean," Chimari said, "I think I'd go…east. The ocean's supposed to be nice over that way… Oh, and I'd ask Mossimon to come.

***

"Mt. Minahashi," Hiroshi said.

"Why?" Agumon asked.

"I don't know," Hiroshi said, "There's a lot of cool stuff by it. You know, like the Yokomon and Kittimon Villages, the desert, the forest, some other stuff. I'd take Yoromon with."

***

"North," Kassie said, "with Bunemon."

Everyone waited. When she didn't elaborate, Palmon asked, "Why north?"

Kassie shrugged, "Gut feeling."

***

"Okay, we've established that they'd know _where_ they go," Gomamon said solemnly.

"There too young to be prepared to go anywhere," Gatomon said firmly, sounding rather stubborn, "What if evil Digimon attacked them?"

"Why don't we ask them again?" Biyomon suggested.

Gatomon sighed yet again.

***

After a scenario, one which was partially fake, was explained to them, it all led down to, "What would you take with you?"

"Food," Hiroshi said, "and…."

"My allowance," Keri added.

Chimari nodded, "Extra clothes."

"A first aid kit?" Kassie asked.

"Walking shoes," Kenji said.

"A rope?"

"A coat."

"My Digimon Analyzer."

"A tree branch."

"My d-terminal."

"My hair brush."

"A sleeping bag."

"A pillow."

"Vitamins?"

"Someone said money, right?"

"An umbrella."

"A rain coat."

"Rain boots too."

"And mittens. Not for rain, for cold."

"Rubber bands and paper clips."

"Paper."

"Pens, pencils, markers, and erasers."

"Why rubber bands, paper clips, and a tree branch?" Agumon asked.

"You never know when rubber bands and paper clips will come in handy," Chimari explained.

"You have to have something to beat up mean Digimon when they won't leave you alone," Kenji said, swinging his arms like he had an invisible baseball bat.

"What sorts of food would you buy or take with you?" Gatomon inquired. She sounded like she would do anything to find the slightest fault in them, and they subconsciously picked up on her tone. They looked at each other with reluctant expressions.

"Fish," Hiroshi sighed.

"Bread and cereal," said Keri flatly.

"Apples and pears and stuff," Kenji said.

"Milk," Kassie added, "And yogurt and cheese."

"And broccoli," Chimari added. The other kids, even Keri, looked at her like she was a complete idiot. She demanded, "What? I don't like it either, but it's a necessary evil!"

"Yeah, I guess," Hiroshi murmured.

"Mmm," Keri, Kenji, and Kassie mumbled, rolling their eyes and nodding reluctantly.

"What, no ice cream?" Gatomon asked silkily, looking only at Keri.

He blinked and considered his answer. He said, "Maybe…just a little."

"Oh," Gatomon said, "Go play, you guys. We won't call you in again."

"Okay," Hiroshi said, the others following him out.

After a few minutes of silence, Gatomon spoke to Patamon without looking at him, saying, "Get me a map of File Island."

***

"The grown-ups have been in the Agumon and Biyomon's room talking _all day_," Yoromon complained to Puppetmon. They were all sitting at the table in Agumon, Biyomon, Yoromon, and Hiroshi's little house. DemiDevimon was perched on Hiroshi's head, but the boy was staring blankly at the tablecloth, which had a fire-like pattern.

"Do you want us to make lunch?" Puppetmon asked.

"Nah, Subjimon's supposed to," Keri said, "Gatomon'll be mad if we ate something you cooked."

"No doubt," DemiDevimon said, "but poison is so 20th Century."

Having not been around in the 1900's, the kids had no idea what that meant and said nothing in response. Kassie sighed as her head began to fall wearily toward the table. Bunemon jumped off her shoulder and frantically attempted to support her.

There was a knock at the front door. Yoromon went to it and opened it with his ears. He let Subjimon inside the house. The Servant Digimon made a point of acting like Puppetmon and DemiDevimon weren't there as he asked for suggestions on lunch. Those he was asking just shrugged and mumbled.

Subjimon blinked uncertainly and suggested, "Fried rice?"

"Okay," Nyokomon mumbled. 

An hour later, everyone was done eating, though their plates still had food on them. DemiDevimon and Puppetmon had been given food for politeness' sake; they and Subjimon were the only ones who ate all their rice. Everyone else just pushes it around the plate dully.

"Can we go to the lake?" Chimari asked.

"Why not?" Subjimon said.

***

"Keri said around here," Gatomon said, indicating the area of the map around the dot labeled "Primary Village." She said, "Chimari would head to the eastern coast, most likely just beyond Toy Town. Hiroshi said southeast, to Mt. Minahashi. Kenji would go around Infinity Mountain to Toy Town. Kassie just said north."

"Rule: No leaving the island," Tentomon said.

"And stay off Infinity Mountain," Biyomon added.

"And go prepared," Patamon said.

"And Puppetmon and DemiDevimon stay here," Gatomon said firmly.

"Come on, let's start packing," Pasthamon said sadly.

***

Chimari, dressed in a blue black-polka-dotted bathing suit, blew up a red balloon. Kassie did the same; she was wearing a pink bathing suit with a skirt. They took the balloons in hand and dived into the lake with Bunemon and Mossimon. Kenji, who was lounging in the shallows with Kinnomon, raised his arm irritably to block the water that splashed toward him.

Subjimon watched uncomfortably as Hiroshi and Keri had a play sword fight with wooden rods. Nyokomon, Yoromon, Puppetmon, and DemiDevimon acted as cheerleaders; they had pink pom-poms, but they refused to wear dresses for obvious reasons.

Chimari, Mossimon, Kassie, and Bunemon swam toward the floor at the middle of the lake, where there was a very large glass dome. The dome was filled with little houses of all shapes and had water filling the first three feet of it. When the human girls needed breath, they inhaled a bit from their balloons.

Bunemon pushed a button on the outside of a closet-sized extension of the dome. The extension filled with water as the door on it opened. Once they were all inside, the next button was pushed. The first door closed, a pump emptied the extension, and the door into the dome opened. They walked in, wading in the shallow water that flooded the sand, algae, and seaweed.

"Hey, girls," Poseimon said cheerfully as she rose from the water in front of them, "How have you been lately?"

"Great," Kassie said. The others nodded.

"And your guardians?"

"They're fine too, I guess," Kassie said, "They don't tell us important stuff, so we wouldn't know if something's wrong."

"Still fighting that ol' battle?" Poseimon asked. As Kassie sighed and nodded, the Digimon looked questioningly to Chimari, who had a thoughtful look.

"They were asking us a lot of weird questions yesterday," she said.

"Like?" inquired Poseimon.

"Where would we go if we left the village by ourselves, who we'd take with if only one person would go," Chimari listed, "What we'd take if we left. And such."

"What food we'd buy," Kassie added.

"Hmm," Poseimon said. She looked like she knew something she wasn't saying.

"Well, we were going to go see Hydramon and Depthmon, so…" Kassie trailed off as she saw Gomamon entering the dome.

He swam to them and said, "We need to talk to you girls."

"Just Kassie and me, right?" Bunemon asked.

"No, all four of you," Gomamon said, his face blank.

"Okay," Chimari said slowly. She looked a Mossimon, who gave as much of a shrug as possible for a creature composed of little more than a head.

"See you later, Poseimon," Mossimon said to the older Digimon, who waved and dived out of view.

"He's too…" Kassie said in a voice only her peers could hear as they followed Gomamon, "quiet?"

Chimari and the two Digimon realized she was right; Gomamon—a Digimon that smiled almost constantly, almost always had a joke ready, and never seemed short of energy—seemed quiet, worried, and distant. Bunemon's leaves drooped worriedly.

Once back on land, they met the solemn faces of the other nine older Digimon. All of them looked on the verge of tears. Pasthamon and Biyomon were attempting to hide tears. Chimari took an uncertain half-step toward her guardian.

Gatomon waved a paw and ushered the boys toward the four of them. She said, "We have something to tell you. It's not easy, but if it doesn't get you exited, whoopee." It was then the kids saw that a group of packs were arranged behind their tearful forbears.

***

"Always have Courage."

"Always know Love." 

It was the next day, sunset, out in the fields outside Primary Village. Hiroshi stood after kneeling to be hugged by Biyomon and Agumon and straightened his backpack. His leather pants still needed to be broken in, and the orange red-trimmed shirt he wore felt too crisp and new as well. Yoromon hopped up onto his head, looked at his face, and grinned his grin that was much like Koromon's. His partner turned from his reluctant family and headed southeast, biding his final good-byes to the other kids.

"Be smart, hold onto your curiosity, and never forget who you are."

"Never give up, and you'll get it done."

Chimari, dressed mostly in purple- and white-stained leather kissed Pasthamon's nose and hugged Tentomon. Mossimon did the same and allowed herself to be picked up as the human girl turned east, the cloudy verboten cone of Infinity Mountain looming up in front of her.

"If you can't rely on yourself, you can't rely on others."

"Be true to yourself and anyone you meet."

Kassie had a white shirt and tight white pants, covered by a long pink skirt. She bid an emotional farewell to Palmon and Gomamon, took her bag and Bunemon firmly in her possession, and spun to take the first step of a journey northward.

"Friendship makes the world go 'round," Gabumon said encouragingly.

"Don't loose your Integrity," Picamon said kindly.

Kenji nodded, careful to hold his tears back. He hugged them, reluctant to let go of their warm fur. He lifted Kinnomon and headed northeast.

"Hope is a thing with feathers; That perches in the soul; And sings the tune without the words; And never stops at all," Patamon recited. Keri looked at him questioningly.

"A poem we learned from your father," Gatomon explained to him, "You're mother's Light is in you, I feel it. Good luck."

He nodded and looked down at Nyokomon. The little Digimon nodded to the older ones, then to him. They turned west.

"Will they be alright?" Pasthamon asked as the ten Digimon congregated.

It was a long time before anyone said anything. By the time Gatomon spoke, most of the children had already disappeared into the darkness, but the faint little dot that was Keri could be seen against the sunset. She said, "They'll always be alright."


	5. Enter the Dragon of Fire

Digimon: Digital Monsters

****

The Next Creation

#04: Enter the Dragon of Fire

"How far _is_ it?" Yoromon whined.

"I can see it fine, so it can't be too far off," Hiroshi said, pointing to Mt. Minahashi. Little did he know they had yet to be halfway there. It was about noon, which Hiroshi confirmed when looking at the watch on his Digivice.

To the north and northwest of them was more and more of the grassland they were on. To the east was the fog and steam surrounding Infinity Mountain. To the south and southeast was Mt. Minahashi. To the west and southwest was the Minahashi Desert.

"Can we take a break?" Yoromon asked, "I'm not used to all this travelling."

"Think of how the girls are faring then," Hiroshi laughed as he sat down and took off his backpack, "Kassie can hardly stand to walk from the Hatching Grounds to the lake. Chimari doesn't get enough exercise because she's always sitting at her computer. Come to think of it, Keri's not used to travel because Gatomon's so protective."

"What does 'protective' mean?"

"I don't know, but it's what Biyomon said. She says Gatomon's like that because she cares about Keri and Nyokomon and wants to make sure they're safe."

"So that's why Keri knew that Gatomon and Patamon wouldn't let him learn how to use a sword?" Yoromon asked.

"Probably," Hiroshi said, "They were probably afraid he'd cut himself."

"Hey, you!"

Hiroshi and Yoromon looked over at a small hill and saw a Kunemon. They got up wearily, and Hiroshi asked, "Yeah?"

"Aren't you just kids?" the Kunemon asked, "Who's taking care of you out here?"

"Our guardians are in Primary Village," Yoromon said, "We can take care of ourselves."

"All they way in Primary Village?" Kunemon asked, "Are they some of the Digimon that defeated that one group at the dam near the Kittimon Village?"

"Yeah," Hiroshi said slowly. His eyes narrowed suspiciously as he edged one foot back.

"Since they aren't here to care for you," Kunemon said, "I'll take care of you! Electric Thread!"

"Yahh!" Hiroshi and Yoromon jumped aside, looking nervously at the singed grass they had just been standing on.

"Bubble Blow!" Yoromon said.

Kunemon shot his Electric Thread at each bubble, popping it before it reached him. He fired at Hiroshi and Yoromon again. After several attacks that they barely dodged, one of the threads skimmed Hiroshi's forearm. He was still in the process of dodging, and the sudden pain made him loose his balance.

"Hiroshi!" Yoromon called as he fell to his knees, "Yoromon digivolve to… Pteryxmon!"

-------------------------

****

Pteryxmon 

Group: Bird Digimon

Attribute: Data

Level: Rookie

Technique: Gyre Flame

~~~

He is a fiery flying Digimon capable of good flight for a Rookie. His claws are sharp and his fire hot.

-------------------------

"Yoromon?" Hiroshi asked, turning to his Digimon friend. The Digimon Yoromon turned into was a bird, the feathers on his head arranged quite like Biyomon's, but were mostly maroon with a little red, orange, and yellow. He had a straight green feather where Biyomon had a curling blue and pink one. His beak was longer and a little sharper. His wings had three-clawed hands, the feathers pointing down. His eyes were bright blue, his feathers were blended rainbow colors, and he had five wide rainbow tail feathers.

Pteryxmon flapped into the air, flying threateningly above Kunemon.

Kunemon called, "Electric Thread!"

"Hah!" Pteryxmon laughed as he dodged aside easily. He swooped down and swiped at Kunemon's face with his claws. I was hard to tell whether or not Kunemon was being hurt, despite Pteryxmon's frequent attacks. The Larvae Digimon clamped its beak down on Pteryxmon's wing and yanked out a feather when he flew back.

"Is that the best you can do?" Kunemon asked, his scratches invisible. Pteryxmon frowned.

"You can beat that bug, Pteryxmon!" Hiroshi called.

"Gyre…Flame!" Pteryxmon squawked. On 'flame' he gave a sudden thrust of his wings and sent a small fireball hurling toward Kunemon. It hit the bug in the chest and erupted into a tornado of flames that surrounded him.

The flames quickly diminished, and Kunemon, blackened, exhaled a puff of smoke. He ran off whining loudly.

"Great job!" Hiroshi praised, kneeling by Pteryxmon when he landed, "I can't believe you digivolved! Biyomon and Agumon would be proud of you!"

Pteryxmon blushed and inhaled to puff out his chest proudly. He said, "Yeah, it is cool. I did it so you'd be safe. Since you're a human, you don't have attributes. You can't fight."

"Yeah, but I don't know about that last part," Hiroshi laughed, "Congrats since you digivolved to Rookie. Let's get going." He got up and turned toward their previous course.

"Hey, wait," Pteryxmon said. Hiroshi turned back to him, and he said, "We never had our break! I'm hungry!"

"Oh, yeah, I forgot," Hiroshi said.

***

That night, Hiroshi and Pteryxmon were tucked tight within a sleeping bag. For no apparent reason, Hiroshi's eyes opened. He looked around, curious to what may have awoken him. He looked up and saw a person. He quickly unzipped his sleeping bag and stood.

"Hello," the woman said. He immediately recognized her by her unsettlingly mysterious brown eyes, though he could now see the rest of her more clearly. She had long brown hair which was braided tightly. She was wearing a red black-rimmed kimono patterned with little sky blue diamonds. She seemed unusually lightened in the darkness, as if she was unaffected by the lack of light or she produced her own light.

"Um, hi?" Hiroshi asked uncertainly. He noticed that she was standing on a round metal thing with a transparent glowing panel of sorts on top.

"I came to tell you something," she said.

"Uh-huh," Hiroshi responded.

The woman took a picture from a pocket on her kimono and held it out so he could see. It looked like a bracelet or ring. It was black and had a glass-covered square on one side. The square was an ugly gray-blue color and had a symbol in a darker shade. It looked like a circle with an X going over it, with a small triangle above, below, and to either side of it.

"What's that?" Hiroshi asked, having the gut feeling that he didn't want to know.

"A bracelet," the woman said, "Find it. And another one."

"Why?"

"Because you have to."

"Why?"

She looked at him irritably and said, "It's your _destiny_. There are ten of these and you must find _two_. No argument of the such. You were looking for a purpose, and now I'm giving you one. The one I'm showing you is one of yours."

"Who are you?" Hiroshi asked.

"That's not important," the woman said.

"Do I have to find them right now?" Hiroshi asked, getting back to the subject.

"You deserve a night's rest if that's what you mean," she said, "Just make it the goal of your journey, since you currently have none."

"Okay," Hiroshi said slowly, "Where do I start looking?"

"If only I didn't have to tell you the truth," she said. Her eyes softened as she smiled.

"What's that?"

"You're heart," she said, "You'll find them in your heart."

"Uh…" Hiroshi mumbled. He yelped as the woman faded out of sight. She was soon followed by her glowing metal thing. He looked down at his sleeping bag and asked, "Pteryxmon?"

The Digimon was fast asleep.

***

Still on the plains, Hiroshi and Pteryxmon stood before Mt. Minahashi. Checking the map and compass the Biyomon had given him, Hiroshi said, "We should save the food we have with us for emergencies. The Yokomon Village isn't too far away." He began walking southwest, and Pteryxmon was right behind.

About thirty minutes later, Pteryxmon asked, "Are you _sure_ we're going the right way?"

"Of course," Hiroshi said, "We're relying on my impeccable sense of direction."

Pteryxmon groaned louder and fell over into the hot desert sands.

"Come on," Hiroshi said irritably, "I think I can see it from here."

Pteryxmon flew up a few feet and cried, "Yay! Yay! We're almost there!" When they finally did arrive, not a single Yokomon paid them heed. They were all bouncing around; they appeared to be in a rush to transport grapes, juice, pillows, and other little things.

"Excuse me—?" Hiroshi began, being completely ignored, "Um, excuse—?" After several failing attempts at getting attention politely, he picked up an empty-handed Yokomon at random and asked, "What's going on, why is everyone in such a hurry?"

"We're working for a mean Digimon!" the Yokomon explained quickly, trying to wiggle away, "We have to work fast, or he'll get mad."

"If he's so mean, why do you work for him?"

"Because he's making us!"

"Oh…."

"He's making the whole village work, and we don't even get minimum wage!" the Yokomon sniffled, "Someone went for help, but she hasn't come back yet."

"Can we help?" Pteryxmon asked.

"Probably not; you'd only get hurt," Yokomon said. She finally freed herself and went back to her previous task.

"Hmm," Pteryxmon mumbled. He flew up to be able to see over the short huts. His blue eyes widened, and he said, "KaratsukiNumemon! At the fountain! With some Shamamon!"

"Them again?" Hiroshi had been to the Yokomon Village several times before, seeing that most of Biyomon's oldest friends were here. So he knew the location of the fountain easily and subconsciously began a determined stride toward it.

"KaratsukiNumemon, Hiroshi," Pteryxmon reminded, "I'm a _Rookie_."

Hiroshi stopped short, thinking. He asked, "How many Shamamon?"

"Two," Pteryxmon said, "But _three_ KaratsukiNumemon."

"A whole village of In-trainings, a Rookie, and a human versus two Rookies and three Champions," Hiroshi calculated.

"In-training," Pteryxmon said, "And I'm freshly digivolved. Can you even fight?"

"Of course," Hiroshi said, pulling his practice stick out put of his pack, "Keri taught me how."

"Just the other day you said that Keri would be slaughtered by a Yuramon…."

"I did not," Hiroshi snapped.

"Why don't we go get help instead?" Pteryxmon asked, "I want to kick these guys' big shelled butts just as much as you do… BUT I DON'T WANT TO HAVE TO BE PEELED OFF THE GROUND WITH A SPATULA!"

"Okay, okay!" Hiroshi said, holding out his hands as if to ward Pteryxmon off, "We'll go get help."

"No you won't."

Hiroshi and Pteryxmon turned around to face a particularly tall Shamamon. It was about a foot or so taller than Hiroshi, and it grinned down at him smugly as it renewed its grip on its club.

"Um, hello…" Hiroshi said nervously.

__

***Earth Date: 3 years 6 months AA***

"I talked to Joe earlier," Sora said to Matt, Tai, and TK while they sat in Tai's apartment's living room, "and then I released that it was the first time I'd heard from him in about two weeks. I think we're drifting apart."

Tai nodded grimly and said, "At least we know where everyone is…. Did Joe have any new worth repeating?"

"Yeah," Sora said sadly. Tai put his arm around her shoulders to comfort her, and she said, "Mimi's been really upset lately, just like Kari. She just kept getting worse and worse. A couple days ago, she sorta… lost it."

"Lost it?" Matt asked.

"Joe said it's chronic depression," Sora said, "You could classify it under insanity."

"I think Kari's pretty messed up too," Tai sighed, "She make shadow puppets of rabbits being mutilated. I really think that count as loosing it."

Matt looked at TK, who said nothing.

__

***

Earth Date: 3 years 6 months AA

DigiDate: 19 years AA

***

"Can we at least have lunch?" Hiroshi asked blandly.

"NO! Shut up!" KaratsukiNumemon snapped. 

Hiroshi sighed. He and Pteryxmon were in a cage next to the Yokomon Village's fountain. The lead KaratsukiNumemon was being fanned by tired-looking Yokomon with palm fronds.

"However, if you want out…" KaratsukiNumemon began, instantly gaining their attention, "we do need target practice." They slumped in disappointment. KaratsukiNumemon said, "Get the big clumsy one… you." He pointed to the more normal-sized of the two Shamamon.

Shamamon nodded and approached the cage, opened it, flung Hiroshi out, and slammed it shut in Pteryxmon's face.

"Here's your weapon," KaratsukiNumemon said, stifling laughter at the 'weapon,' as he tossed Hiroshi his stick.

"Shaman Hammer!" Shamamon said, his raised club glowing. Hiroshi jumped aside as the club was brought down ruthlessly where he'd stood milliseconds before. He swung his stick and jabbed Shamamon in the eye. Shamamon howled in pain as Hiroshi ran farther out of the way.

"I remember Agumon suggesting that he learn kendo," Pteryxmon mumbled to himself as Hiroshi ran around trying to dodge Shamamon's club, "If he lives through this, maybe Biyomon will change her mind." He looked at his get hit in the arm and knocked down into fairly soft sand a few feet away and said, "_Maybe _he'll be lucky…."

Hiroshi's stick was knock in half by the Shaman Hammer. He looked at the broken end of the half he was still holding in bewilderment, then stabbed Shamamon's exposed upper arm, tossed the stick's remains aside, and quickly got out of the way.

"Go, Hiroshi!" Pteryxmon cheered, "Knock his block off!"

__

Remember to stay together! You can accomplish so much as a team and so little on your own! Pteryxmon's cheers brought DemiDevimon's words popping back into Hiroshi's head. They almost distracted him to the point where he got hit again, but he managed to slip away from the club's bash.

In the midst of his attempts of dodging, he came to just in front of the door of the cage.

"Shaman Hammer!" Shamamon shouted, swinging the club again. The bars of the cage were pushed aside like a curtain, making a painful noise as they did; Pteryxmon flew out and slashed at the Shamamon before anyone could stop him.

"Gyre Flame!" Pteryxmon called. The Shamamon turned tail and attempted to run, but the seat of his pants caught on fire. He ran around in circles yelping in alarm for nearly a whole minute before he spotted the fountain and dived into it.

KaratsukiNumemon attempted to make him come out, but that didn't seem too likely to happen. He turned on Hiroshi and Pteryxmon, who were trying to creep away.

"Since you're too tough for _him_," KaratsukiNumemon said, "_I'll_ get you! Shell attack!" He withdrew into his shell and propelled himself toward them. Hiroshi shouted, only vaguely aware of the sudden glow from his pocket.

"Pteryxmon digivolve to…" the bird Digimon cried, "Archaeomon!" 

-------------------------

****

Archaeomon 

Group: Dragon Digimon

Attribute: Data

Level: Champion

Technique: Astral Blaze

~~~

A worrier of the skies, he breathes huge gusts of flames to char his opponents!

-------------------------

"A-again?" Hiroshi wondered as the larger pterodactyl-like Digimon knocked KaratsukiNumemon back easily. He was about the size of Birdramon. He had a brown helmet-like shield on his head, his angrily glistening navy eyes clearly visible beyond them. The rest of his scaly body was orange with blue stripes. His tail was like a huge billow of flames.

"Astral Blaze!" Archaeomon cried, hovering above KaratsukiNumemon and his lackeys. He hacked out several fireballs, scorching the bad guys. With the accuracy of small fireballs, he managed to avoid hitting any huts.

"Shell Attack!" all three KaratsukiNumemon yelled, attacking him together. The three shells rammed him from different sides and knocked him down.

"Archaeomon! Are you all right?" Hiroshi called.

"Fine!" Archaeomon squawked, getting to his talons and requiting with his attack. He knocked one of the KaratsukiNumemon out. After trading attacks with him the second KaratsukiNumemon and Shamamon were down. He turned to the leader.

"Shell Attack!" he called. He hit the weaken Archaeomon exactly in the chest and knocked him back roughly.

"Pteryxmon!" Hiroshi called as the bird landed near his feet. He knelt by his friend, who was so dizzy and half-conscious he was mumbling the oddest things.

"But I didn't… take the cookie!"

"Huh?" Hiroshi asked. He looked up as KaratsukiNumemon launched another Shell Attack.

"Flame Fist!"

A blast of fire knocked the shell aside as a Meramon with a Yokomon under his arm like a football skidded to a stop in front of them. KaratsukiNumemon came out of his shell, took one look at the experienced Champion Digimon, and called for his dizzy stumbling buddies to retreat.

***

"I saw it glow!"

"It was definitely a Digivice."

"But the DigiDestined are so much bigger than him."

"Yeah, I saw them once, few years back. They were about six-feet-tall." 

"Maybe ten feet!"

"But he had a Digivice! It glowed and, and…."

"And Pteryxmon digivolved! He became Archaeomon, a Champion!"

These claims and several others were slurred together as the Yokomon tried to convinced Meramon of whether or not Hiroshi was a DigiDestined. They were all in a hut that was very large by Yokomon standards, but Meramon was still on his hands and knees. If Hiroshi had not been curled up asleep in the corner of an another room with Pteryxmon, his head would still scrape the ceiling if he ducked.

Meramon started to speak, but there were still too many Yokomon clamoring at once. As they continued the argument, he failed to perceive how Hiroshi and Pteryxmon were still asleep. Yet he glanced into the room and saw that they still were, most of their birdseed still in their bowls.

The chatter quieted a bit as a few finished what they had to say. The rest stopped rather quickly, as if everyone had arguments of nearly the same length.

"I'll talk to him later," Meramon said, "When he wakes up. When he wakes up _by himself,_" he added to make sure Hiroshi was undisturbed, "In the mean time, keep it down."

***

Despite having gone to sleep in the late afternoon, Hiroshi and Pteryxmon woke up at dawn, which was close to their normal time. They exited the hut uncertainly and spotted Meramon near the fountain. Meramon beckoned for them to come over.

"Did you rest well?" he asked.

"Yeah," Hiroshi mumbled like he hadn't, "I guess. Thanks." Pteryxmon nodded.

"Do you have a Digivice?" Meramon asked.

"One of these things?" Hiroshi asked, holding out his Digivice.

"Exactly!" Meramon said, noting that the snoopy Yokomon took not-so-subtle glances as they passed, "You're a DigiDestined?"

"Uh, yeah, I think that's what Puppetmon said," Hiroshi answered. He looked at Pteryxmon, who agreed.

"Puppetmon?" Meramon questioned.

"He's a friend of ours," Pteryxmon said.

"Okay…" Meramon said slowly, "Anyway, your friends are DigiDestined too, right? Is there anything in particular you're doing by yourself?"

"Yeah, some of them are," Hiroshi said, "I'm supposed to find two of these ten bracelets."

"You are?" Pteryxmon asked.

"Bracelets?" Meramon asked, "What do they look like?"

"They're kinda…" Hiroshi began. He trailed off and looked at his Digivice. It was flashing and beeping. Oddly enough, the beeps somehow sounded sort of frantic. It vibrated like it was trying to escape Hiroshi's hand. He looked at the fountain, which was only a few feet away, and shivered as he held the Digivice toward it. The decorative tip of the fountain, which had been partially destroyed by Archaeomon's Astral Blaze, crumbled away completely.

"There it is," Hiroshi said, "That's one of them." The bracelet sat there, pulsing with energy. It vibrated and suddenly shot toward him. He held his arm up to block his face and felt it close around his wrist. He shivered again as he looked at it.

"So… you found it," Pteryxmon said. Hiroshi nodded without looking away from it.

"I have a friend," Meramon said, "that trains young swordsmen. Would you like to become one of his students?"

"Yeah," Hiroshi said, sounding less enthusiastic than he felt because he was still looking at the bracelet, "I'd love to."

"Great," Meramon said, "I bet he'll let you start tomorrow…. Are you okay?"

"Mmm?" Hiroshi asked, tearing his gaze from the bracelet, "Yeah, I'm fine. Thank you." He glanced back at it. It was not the same one that the lady had shown him. The square on this one was a gross-looking gray-green with a symbol like two halves of a heart shape, one turned upside-down.

"Come with me," Meramon said, "He lives with me in Mt. Minahashi."

"Okay," Hiroshi said, sounding normal again, "Come on, Pteryxmon."

"Right behind ya!"


	6. Flower Tower

Digimon: Digital Monsters

****

The Next Creation

#05: Flower Tower

"According to the map, we're about a ninety miles southwest of Primary Village, and Bush Town is just a little bit due west."

"You have the map upside down."

"Oh," Kinnomon said. He bounced around to the other side of it and said, "We're northeast of the village and Bush Town is to the east."

Kenji nodded in acceptance and looked around. He saw nothing more than grassy hills. He glanced to the morning sun and identified east.

"Should we keep going?" Kinnomon asked.

Kenji nodded again, stood, and picked him and the map up. He folded the map up, put it in his backpack, and headed east. As soon as he reached the top of the closest hill, he and Kinnomon spotted Bush Town in the middle of the prairie before them.

"Looks like something off PBS," Kenji commented. Most of the houses were extremely large hut-like mushrooms with brightly colored polka-dotted roofs. There were heavily scented flowerbeds practically overflowing onto the cobbled paths. The paths showed more soil between each cobblestone than those of Primary Village. There was a large round white and lime-green tower on the far side of the little town; towards the top it had big pink and yellow petal-like things sticking out to make it look flowery.

"Hmm," Kinnomon said.

"Might as well pick up some extra food while we're there," Kenji said, starting forward. Kinnomon nodded the best that Kenji's grip on him allowed.

Once in the town, they found several little booths made of four small trees with intertwined branches to form a table top. These booths were selling things like food, potted plants, or souvenirs. Almost all of Bush Town's Citizens were Plant Digimon.

"Here," Kenji said after they'd been walking a few minutes. He held out half of a chocolate bar.

Kinnomon looked back towards the closest booth that sold candy, but it was a ways away. He said, "Oh, I didn't notice you bought something."

"I didn't," Kenji said, "We need to save our money, remember?"

"You mean you just took it without paying for it?" Kinnomon demanded.

"That Mushroomon won't know it's gone," Kenji said, "Just eat it."

"I'd rather not…."

"Suit yourself," Kenji shrugged, "It's just a candy bar." 

He heard a series of sounds, each of which seemed a bit like a cross between a beep and a whine. He took out his Digivice and held it in his open palm. It had a shocking resemblance to a small living creature trembling in fear. He looked questioningly at Kinnomon, who seemed just as confused, and replaced it in his pocket. Once ignored, the device stopped its sounds.

"Let's go get a closer look at that tower," Kinnomon suggested, "It looks cool… in a slightly girly sort of way."

"Shh," Kenji gestured, "Don't say that so loud. Some of the male Plant Digimon that live here might get upset." Kinnomon stifled a snicker.

They approached the tower and observed it more clearly. It had a flat yellow dome above those petals, and the tower itself narrowed just a little as it went up, making it lighthouse-shaped. It was white with three round petal-bordered windows on all sides. The green double doors and the windows' synthetic petals were bordered by light green. With the cheeriness of the rest of the town surrounding it, it had no problem looking very happy and welcoming.

"C'mon!" Kinnomon said, bouncing forward, but Kenji took a hesitant step back. Kinnomon turned back and asked, "What's wrong?"

Kenji shuddered and regained his casual composure. He said, "Nothing," and walked forward.

"Hi!" shouted two identical Digimon as they jumped out in front of them, causing a scene. They were each bipedal and about three-and-a-half-feet tall, and their colors contrasted noticeably with the surroundings. They were bluish-black with a light gray-blue belly, and had a slight teddy-bear look to them. While the rest of their face was gray, they had a blue mask-like covering over the top half of it, but most of that was hidden by a brown derby. They had big yellow eyes, a long tail, bat-like wings, a pair of fangs, and a suspiciously mischievous expression.

"Um, hello," Kenji responded. 

"Good day," the one Digimon on the left said, "We run the well-known—"

"And rather famous!" added the right one.

"—Flower Tower of Bush Town!" the left one finished.

"We only let so many tourists in per day," said the right one, "and you're—"

"—in luck because we still have…."

"Two tickets left!" the concluded together, each of them holding out a pink ticket.

"Wow," Kenji said, referring not to the luck of having available tickets, but to the pair's ability to continue one another's sentences so perfectly.

"You bet!" said the right, "Each ticket is only fifty—"

"—cents each! Buy yours—"

"NOW!"

Kenji looked at Kinnomon, who considered and said, "Why not? It's only a dollar."

"Here," Kenji said, taking a digidollar from his pocket and handing it to one of the two weirdoes.

"Enjoy!" they said in unison. They took the money, handed Kenji his ticket, and stuffed Kinnomon's ticket in his mouth. They ushered them toward the tower, opened the double doors, and shoved them inside the room.

Kenji looked worriedly at the door after they slammed it. The room they were in was round. The walls were white with thin vines of tiny flowers painted on in pastel colors. The ceramic tile alternated pink and white. There was a white pillar in the center of the room; it was surrounded by a circular area without tile from which vines grew. The vines spiraled their way up the pillar and through the inch-wide space in the ceiling that surrounded it. A spiral staircase was pressed against the wall and led to the next story.

For lack of something better to do, Kenji moved toward the start of the staircase and began climbing it with Kinnomon close behind.

Save that they had windows, the next two stories were a each slightly smaller copy of the first, but in the fourth one, everything but the staircase was closed off with a black tarp. Kenji and Kinnomon attempted to find a way to peek through it, but it was fastened too securely.

The fifth story was within the dome atop the building. The pillar was topped with a sort of fountain with three basins in the center of the room. It was very decorative and made of some sort of crystal. It would have been very pretty, but a deep red liquid filled it, trickling a drop or two at a time into the next basin. The vines that had made such a long journey upward were curled on the floor, withered and black.

Hung on the flower-like tip of the fountain was a black ring of sorts. Kenji took a step forward, saying, "Hey, that's one of those things!"

"One of what things?" Kinnomon asked, "Something we saw in a horror movie?"

"No," Kenji said, "The lady that gave me my Digivice? I saw her last night. She said to find two things like that."

Kinnomon made a face and shuddered. He asked, "Why?"

"I don't know," Kenji said, "She wouldn't tell me." He hesitated and took another step toward it. It began vibrating before it flew at him. He yelped as it snapped closed around his left wrist. He gripped it, trying to pull it open, but he had no luck. He tried so hard to pulled it off that he fell to his knees.

"Are you okay?!" Kinnomon demanded.

"Get it _off_!" Kenji groaned, still pulling.

"Hah! The Bracelets drain the DigiDestined's powers!" laughed two voices.

"You!" Kenji roared, recognizing the voices as those of the two Digimon that had sold them tickets. He glared toward the stairs where they stood.

"We are the two—" one of them began.

"—the only—"

"Airbemon!" they said together. They flung off there derbies to reveal navy bat-wing-like ears accompanied by dark ribbon-like strips.

-------------------------

****

Airbemon   
Group: Small Demon Digimon  
Attribute: Virus  
Level: Rookie  
Technique: Bear Bite

~~~

Airbemon are childish and mischievous  
little demons that only work when threatened  
and/or heavily paid with candy in mind.

-------------------------

"I oughta…" Kenji growled, standing and advancing on them.

"I know they kinda ripped off our dollar," Kinnomon said, "but that's no reason to be so mad. After all, we did get to see the fountain of…I really hope that's Kool-Aid…." He gulped.

Kenji scowled down at the shackle-like band on his wrist. The grayish-auburn square had a symbol with a knife-like appearance. He took another threatening step toward the two Airbemon.

"We just want to inform you in advance—" began one Airbemon.

"It's nothing personal," interrupted the second, "Please don't take offense."

"—that we have to destroy you," finished the first.

"Sorry," said the second.

Kenji ran at them and swung his fist. They flapped their wings to dodge, and Kenji stopped just soon enough to avoid smacking into the wall.

"Bear Bite!" cried the second one. He clamped down on Kenji's right forearm. He cried out.

"Kenji!" Kinnomon cried, "Ooh! I'll get you! Kinnomon digivolve to… Pardumon!"

-------------------------  
**Pardumon**   
Group: Mammal Digimon  
Attribute: Data  
Level: Rookie  
Technique: Flashing Vapor  
~~~  
Pardumon is a fuzzy Digimon with   
a fur coat. His attack blinds enemies  
and shocks them at once.  
-------------------------

Pardumon held a stunning resemblance to Gabumon. He had short fuzzy yellow fur in place of scales, and his fur coat was yellow with zigzag navy stripes. He had round ears, three reptilian tails, bright green eyes, and paws in place of hands or talons.

He lunged forward in bit into the tail of the Airbemon that was still latched onto Kenji's arm. He whipped his tails and smacked the other away as he tried to attack.

The Airbemon let go of Kenji's arm, yielding to the pain, and was flung across the room.

"Flashing Vapor! Hrah!" Pardumon roared. He breathed out what looked like blue fire onto the Airbemon. Steam flowed from the flames as they hit him, and he jerked around like he was having a seizure.

The other Airbemon cringed as the bristling-hot steam floated to him. Kenji waved it away, feeling sparks crackle around his fingers and make them numb.

The Airbemon Pardumon hadn't attacked directly jumped up and bit one of his tails. He smack at him with the other two.

"Right now I think it's best if we—" the injured Aibemon began.

The other was knocked into a wall. He yelled, "RETREAT!" The two of them made a mad dash for the staircase, practically rolling down the steps. One of them was heard squeaking, "Blackemon? They're all yours!" followed by a snarl and several loud thumps.

"Stupid human!" snapped the huge reptilian feline that came stalking into the room. She was black with long pointed ears and wicked-looking claws. There was a pink ridge of fur down her back. Her solid red eyes reflected irritation as she twitched her tail impatiently. She looked down at Kenji and Pardumon like they were small blobs of something repulsive. She asked, "_You're_ DigiDestined?"

"I… think so," Kenji responded.

"Oh, well," the Digimon snarled, "In all due _formalities_…" another snarl, "I am Blackemon."

-------------------------  
**Blackemon**   
Group: Demon Beast Digimon  
Attribute: Virus  
Level: Champion  
Technique: Thunder Slash  
~~~  
Blackemon dislikes wasting time   
on unworthy prey. Victory is more   
important than honor, bit if possible,   
she is formal about her destruction.  
-------------------------

"Uh…hi," Kenji mumbled.

"What a waste of time. If you stand still, this will be easier on us all." She raised one menacing forepaw and yelled, "Thunder Slash!"

"Pardumon digivolve to… Zuramon!"

-------------------------  
**Zuramon**   
Group: Beast Digimon  
Attribute: Data  
Level: Champion  
Technique: Shock Fang  
~~~  
Zuramon's sharp claws and sharper  
lightning-powered teeth make this feline  
a tough opponent.  
-------------------------

Zuramon was a large yellow feathery lion with blue stripes that faintly resembled a catlike Garurumon. He had three ropy tails, pink claws, and green eyes. He pushed Kenji out of harm's way and growled.

"Ooh, scary," Blackemon said blandly.

"Shock Fang!" Zuramon howled, lunging forward. Blackemon jumped onto her hind legs and left Zuramon closing his jaws on the air below her. She stomped on his head and jumped aside. With the small size of the room, her experienced agility was very noticeably versus Zuramon's clumsy habit of occasionally slamming into the wall.

"Thunder Slash!" Blackemon shrieked, scraping ruthlessly at Zuramon. He was at the stairs when she rammed him, but he lost his balance easier than she'd expected. The two of them ended up rolling down the stairs in a tangled mass.

Kenji gaped at the stairs; it would have been comical if the situation hadn't been so serious. He raced down the stairs after them, catching up quickly. The felines' momentum made them spin around the room on the bottom story and slam into the back side of the stairs. Kenji nearly lost his balance due to the vibration, but he got down safely.

Blackemon and Zuramon continued clawing at each other until their battle managed to force its way out through the partially open door. Kenji saw the two Airbemon duck behind a tree in panic. The two cats parted from their grueling slash fight, glaring at each other and breathing hard. They lunged forward in unison, teeth and claws bared.

"Shock Fang!" Zuramon roared. As he and Blackemon collided, he sank his flashing teeth into her neck. She snarled in pain as electricity crackled around her. She reconfigured.

Zuramon swung his attention to the tree from which the Airbemon were peeking out behind. They panicked and flew slowly out of sight with their awkward wings. Zuramon sighed in exhaustion and shrank back into Pardumon.

"Pardumon!" Kenji called, rushing over to him, "Are you okay?"

"Yes," Pardumon answered, "Are you?"

"Yeah," Kenji said, "I'm fine…. Wow, I can't believe you digivolved _twice_."

"I did it to protect you," Pardumon said, "But I de-digivolved."

"That's okay," Kenji said, "If you didn't de-digivolve, how could you fit in the house when we go home? By the way, thanks."

"No problem," Pardumon said. He and Kenji jumped a foot or so as cheers erupted around them. There was a crowd of Digimon around them, and a Floramon rushed forward to pull them both into a vice-like hug.

"Thank you! Thank you!" she exclaimed.

"What did we do?" Pardumon gasped.

"You made those bad Digimon leave our tower!" Floramon cried happily, "Thank you! Thank you!" Thank you _so_ much!"

"No problem," Kenji groaned. Floramon finally released her grip and danced in circles around them.

"Let's go see the fountain!" she suggested cheerfully.

A few minutes later, Kenji, Pardumon, Floramon, and as many other Digimon that could fit were crowded around the fountain on the fifth story. The last of the pinkish swirls were disappearing in the midst of the sparkling clear water that poured from basin to basin.

"That's weird," Kenji commented.

"I guess the presence of mean Digimon made the fountain icky," Pardumon said, choosing his words carefully as his face turned green.

"I don't think so," Kenji said. Only Pardumon paid any attention to him; the others were too busy chatting happily among themselves to notice the worried way Kenji looked at his bracelet.

"What?" Pardumon asked, "Maybe someone can tell us what that thing is."

"I know what it is," Kenji said quietly, "I don't know how know, but I do."

"What is it?" Pardumon asked.

"The Bracelet of Immorality…."


End file.
